Poisonous Mushrooms

I trust your Thanksgiving holiday included a feast. Always remember that children associate the table with edibles, not “do not touch” plants as one family found out when they used climbing nightshade berries as part of a centrepiece. Even the decorative elements on the table should be screened for plants that may harm.

With ample moisture in the fall, Nova Scotian forests begin to sprout a different kind of crop. The forms of fungi are fascinating, from the almost microscopic to the giant puffballs of well-fertilized pastures.  Armed with a camera, there is good hunting along the edges. Mushrooms are just one type of fruiting body (rightfully called a basidiocarp). There are various jellies, cups, coralline, shelflike, lacy, leather objects. They grow on dung, living trees, or on the ground. Generally ground-dwelling fungi have their mycelium embedded in decomposing subterranean organic matter. Their colours have invoked the need for specific colour charts, especially needed to describe their spores.

But mushrooms also have their dark side. There are a few edibles for those in the know. Many more are poisonous, some deadly. Some contain some of the most serious poisons found naturally. Deadly Galerina, Destroying Angel, Deadly Webcap do not imply manna from Heaven or even a tasty ploughman’s lunch.

Seriously, some of these mushrooms contain enough poison to kill an entire family. Some of the Amanitas (Destroying Angel) require only 30grams, raw, cooked or dried to kill an adult, if consumed. Amatoxin, is one such poison, reportedly responsible for nearly 90% of all mushroom poisoning deaths. It destroys the liver.

Many more are not deadly, but cause health problems. The commonly seen lawn mushrooms, the Inky Caps, Coprinus species, can cause problems for those who consume alcohol with them. Tippler’s Bane is called that because the species, Coprinopsis atramentaria, is called that because of the sensitivity to alcohol promoted by the reaction similar to that to drugs used in control of alcoholism.

For those who wish to continue reading, visit our Virtual Museum of Canada exhibit a meet The Fungus Among US, in French or English.

http://tinyurl.com/offzklo French
http://tinyurl.com/o5bb949 English


Destroying Angel, Image used from blog 'Virginia Wildflowers'

Galerina marginata, Steve Trudell photo

Fly Agaric, yellow variant, Photo by Paul Carrigan