Death Caps and the rest: the really poisonous mushroom thread

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fungi2bwith

Member
Feb 27, 2008
28
0
hampshire
I found these a few years ago which were identified (by others on the foray) as galerina marginata. If anyone disagrees with the ID, let me know and I'll delete.

Garry

n_a
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
31
55
Sussex
www.geoffdann.co.uk
I found these a few years ago which were identified (by others on the foray) as galerina marginata. If anyone disagrees with the ID, let me know and I'll delete.

Garry

n_a

It's close enough for me. I couldn't tell you for sure from that photo whether those are G. marginata or Kuehneromyces mutabilis, but I'd tend towards the former and if your foray leader identified them as such then it looks good to me.

So we have Really Nasty Mushroom number 5, which goes by the common name of "Funeral Bell" and has been responsible for at least ten recorded deaths in Europe. It contains the same sort of toxins as the deadly Amanitas. If you're thinking of picking any sort of medium-sized brown mushroom that fruits from logs, you've got to know and avoid this one.

Cheers Garry!
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
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Really Nasty Mushroom number 6: Paxillus involutus (Brown Rollrim)

For this one I refer people to a short thread from this forum:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62600

The person in question believed he was posting pictures of Appalachian Chanterelles (which don't grow in the UK, but are pretty similar to our Chanterelles). And he'd clearly been eating them for a while. This is a fungus that people once ate, but it is now known to cause a long term blood disorder that is really rather unpleasant and leads to a quick death at some random point, maybe 20 years after you started eating the mushroom. Details in the thread.

Your picture:

5044141643_25dbd06230.jpg


Paxillus involutus:

paxillus_vernalis_03big.jpg


Appalachian chanterelle:

cantharellus_appalachiensis_01big.jpg

This species is VERY common all over the UK. It's growing in a woodland or garden near you. It has suffered like almost everything else this year from slug predation, but in a normal year you will find it all over the place. It is tricky to identify at first, because it changes quite a lot as it develops from a small mushroom into something that can be the size of a dinnerplate.
 
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decorum

Full Member
May 2, 2007
5,064
12
Warwickshire
Good thread, my knowledge of all things sporey pretty much stops at very obvious species which are also useful.


The person in question believed he was posting pictures of Appalachian Chanterelles (which don't grow in the UK, but are pretty similar to our Chanterelles). And he'd clearly been eating them for a while.

In fairness, Mungo does list his location as Toronto, Canada and is quite close to the Appalachian Mountains. But it's very useful to have a reminder that, when travelling, you should be even more wary for misidentification and double up the checks.
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
31
55
Sussex
www.geoffdann.co.uk
In fairness, Mungo does list his location as Toronto, Canada and is quite close to the Appalachian Mountains. But it's very useful to have a reminder that, when travelling, you should be even more wary for misidentification and double up the checks.

Exactly the same mistake gets made in the UK, because British Chanterelles are just as easily mixed up with brown roll-rims. Probably even more easily. In fact those Appalachian chanterelles actually more like the Winter Chanterelles that can be found in the UK right now, and those are quite hard to confuse with a brown rollrim.
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
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Yeah...sorry about the broken image links. I don't know why they disappeared. I might get round to re-uploading them and putting new links in, but I'm super-busy right now because it's primetime mushrooms season and have my own website to maintain these days!

And on the topic of really poisonous mushrooms, it's a bumper year for deathcaps. Never seen so many. So watch out! :)
 

Ecoman

Full Member
Sep 18, 2013
934
2
Isle of Arran
www.HPOC.co.uk
I saw a couple the other day. Fascinating things.

I even saw my first Destroying Angel a few weeks ago. Never seen one before and sat and studies it for a good half an hour. Its amazing how much like some edible species it is, just slight differences.
 

Tomcoles

Settler
Jul 21, 2013
537
0
Buckinghamshire
So basically it's not worth risking eating wild mushrooms your better off giving them a wide birth especially in a survival situation due to there low nutrition it's just not worth risking it.
 

Ecoman

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You have obviously not fried up a winter chanterelles or ceps in butter and served them on some wholemeal bread or bulked up a hearty beef stew with a brown birch bolete, or even fried up some puffballs and served them with crispy bacon and a runny poached egg and toast. Mmmm, its making my mouth water just thinking about the flavours.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
You have obviously not fried up a winter chanterelles or ceps in butter and served them on some wholemeal bread or bulked up a hearty beef stew with a brown birch bolete, or even fried up some puffballs and served them with crispy bacon and a runny poached egg and toast. Mmmm, its making my mouth water just thinking about the flavours.

And you've never writhed near death in a hospital bed in gut wrenching agony! Only kidding Ecoman. I love wild mushrooms too but 'am getting more and more cautious the older I get.:)
 

Ecoman

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Sep 18, 2013
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lol I know, me too. I'm way over cautious of picking the wrong types. All of the ones I leave alone are either one I can say hand on heart are either poisonous or inedible, the rest are ones I cannot 100% identify so I'm not going to take a chance. I only need that one small niggle like it doesn't smell quite right or the texture seems wrong or something looks out of place and I walk away to forage another day. Its common sense really.
 
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Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
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www.geoffdann.co.uk
So basically it's not worth risking eating wild mushrooms your better off giving them a wide birth especially in a survival situation due to there low nutrition it's just not worth risking it.

No. It depends on the species, and your level of experience. Some are easy, some are so hard they are almost too dangerous to eat. Most people stick with the easy ones. Deathcaps and their relatives are actually easily identified by the volva (sac) at the base of the stem. Just avoid anything with white gills and a volva, and you'll avoid the two deadliest mushrooms in the world.
 

Geoff Dann

Native
Sep 15, 2010
1,252
31
55
Sussex
www.geoffdann.co.uk
lol I know, me too. I'm way over cautious of picking the wrong types. All of the ones I leave alone are either one I can say hand on heart are either poisonous or inedible, the rest are ones I cannot 100% identify so I'm not going to take a chance. I only need that one small niggle like it doesn't smell quite right or the texture seems wrong or something looks out of place and I walk away to forage another day. Its common sense really.

Yes.

One might say that what kills people is over-confidence - cockiness - rather than the mushrooms! If you're sure that you're sure, then you'll be fine.
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
25
Cumbria
Like Ecoman said its common sense. I found some panther caps a few weeks back and had a good look at them and it amazed me. I have only really looked at mushrooms for about a year so have not plucked up the courage to eat any yet even when I have had positive identification on bay & birch bolete's or similar. I think it's because I am a bit of a beginner when it comes to mushrooms but soon I hope to cook up some nice good finds and eat them just when I feel ready I guess.
 

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