Something Deadly

[Atelier]

I like mushrooms. So, quite often I go out hunting for them, then bring them back for identification and analysis. Already I have built up an ecological profile of the immediate area. Of course, I never eat them because I even hate cultivated mushrooms. In my opinion, they're there to be enjoyed visually.

Anyway, earlier today I went out to the woods. It was slow going, and because of the recent weather I thought I'd be out of luck. But after three quarters of an hour, something turned up:



Apart from being relieved I wouldn't go home empty handed, I took it with me and thought nothing of it. However, it was only when I returned when I discovered something quite terrible. As customary, I recorded the haul in XCEL, and prepared the two different species I'd found for spore samples. I preliminarily conferred with my field guide. What I had in fact found was Amanita phalloides, or a Death Cap.

They earn their name because they are deadly poisonous. Let me put the symptoms into perspective, thanks to wikipedia:

• abdominal pain
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• hypotension
• tachycardia
• hypoglycemia
• jaundice
• delirium
• seizures
• coma
• Renal failure
• coagulopathy
• intracranial pressure
• intracranial hemorrhage
• pancreatitis
• cardiac arrest.

The specimen I found was worse for wear in that it was slightly nibbled, but other than that, it was still young. And as I held it in my hand, I came to me that if I ate it at that moment, I would die. Albeit very slowly, and painfully. It also came to me how something so small and unassuming could take a human life quite wickedly. Needless to say I cleaned up carefully. I hope.

Please leave any thoughts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides

[Snarky]

My parents often go mushroom hunting, looking for edible ones for cooking (and they used to drag me along when I was little, particularly -- at least the way I remember it -- on rainy, miserable days). Quite a few people in Norway die every year having eaten poisonous mushrooms, or end up blind, paralyzed, with kidney failure... There was a story quite recently of someone who'd lost his entire family, as well as some friends, over one dinner, and on top of his terrible bereavement he had become severely disabled himself.

It is scary, particularly since some of the dangerous ones can be mistaken for ones that are good to eat. My parents mainly look for chantarelles, which are pretty distinctive, but I do sometimes worry.

[Tuomas]

We're actually going mushroom-hunting tomorrow to a national park. You almost got me worried there, but I'm glad to know, that this species is very scarce in Finland, met seldomly in just a few places far from where I'm going. Nevertheless they say it's the cause for almost 90% of fungus-deaths None recorded here though.

I'm not a pro, so I'm probably going to stick to the basic ones this time too, that is chantarelles, Boletales (what ever you call them) there's shitloads of them everywhere now , and Lactarius (what ever you call them, milk-caps?)...

[Ryan Timothy B]

Oooo... Eat it, I say!

[Peder 🚀]

I like eating mushrooms.....

[GreenBoy]

I wouldn't anything that looks that much like a penis! 

[GarageGothic]

I wouldn't anything that looks that much like a penis!

No, no, not the penises. You should go for the ones with the nipples, tits never hurt anyone (at least not in moderation).

[Atelier]

I wouldn't anything that looks that much like a penis! 

GG, the way that photo's taken, it looks like they're floating.

Thanks for the replies all.

[InCreator]

Not considering myself certified expert, but only mushroom I wouldn't eat is upper-left one on second image.
ALL others look perfectly edible and a good catch!

For poisonous mushrooms, 99% of cases have clear signs of being bad: slime (not always), that extra ring (or "collar") on mushroom foot, dots on cap (not always), and most of all, bad or bitter taste.

Don't eat what your tongue doesn't like, that's pretty much the first rule about anything growing in the forest.

[Snake]

Jesus, I feel bad for that guy who lost his entire family and friends

I went mushroom picking once with my step dad YEARS ago. I even had a little key to tell me what they were. It was really fun.

[Tuomas]

We made an awesome pie with mushrooms in it. And apparently we did pick the right ones, as no-one got sick. We've still got some left, I'm afraid it's starting to get too cold to get any more though