World's Deadliest Mushroom - "The Death Cap" ...How To Avoid It.

NO MUSHROOM is worthier of fear than the terribly poisonous Death Cap (Amanita phalloides). This single, widespread species of mushroom is solely responsible for the majority of fatal and otherwise serious mushroom poisoning cases, worldwide as well as in North America. Indeed, one might argue that the Death Cap's notorious, relatively frequent victimization of Homo sapiens is far and away the best explanation (or rationalization) for the widespread fear of edible wild mushrooms.

This mushroom is rare in most parts of North America but locally common in such areas as the San Francisco Bay area, where it is typically found from mid-autumn through late winter.

In California, it occurs under live oak and cork trees (it apparently was brought in with cork tree seedlings, and has since adapted to native oaks). There is a similar situation in the Irondequoit area north of Rochester, New York: the Death Cap was first discovered in Durand-Eastman Park in the 1970s under Norway spruce trees that had been imported as nursery stock decades earlier.
The Death Cap has also been reported under oaks in New Jersey and southern Oregon.

Most victims of life-threatening mushroom poisoning in North America are people from Southeast Asia—Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam. They apparently mistake Death Caps for edible "Paddy-Straw" (Volvariella volvacea) mushrooms. The two are similar in several ways—cap color, size, and the white "cup" around the base of the stalk—but different in others (for example, the Paddy-Straw has a pink spore print, the Death Cap a white spore print; and the Death Cap has a partial veil). The Paddy Straw mushroom occurs in tropical and temperate areas worldwide, and is especially common in Southeast Asia; the Death Cap, alas, does not occur in Southeast Asia, so folks from that part of the world are unaware of the lethal "look-alike."

In North America, Death Cap poisonings have been reported from California, Oregon, and New York.
The poisoning cases typically involve several victims—often including children—who "enjoyed" the mushrooms as a group. One or two deaths per case are common. The treatment of choice is often liver transplantation. Especially with early diagnosis, other effective treatments include massive doses of penicillin, which stimulates the liver's defenses.

Causes of Serious Mushroom Poisonings

The "but I thought it was edible…" phenomenon, where the victims either thought they "knew" the mushroom species or applied some folk myth such as "no poisonous mushrooms grow on wood," is one of four causes of mushroom poisoning in humans.

Another often-tragic cause is similar—an individual eating a dangerously toxic wild mushroom in the belief (or with the hope) that it is a hallucinogenic species.

The most common cause of mushroom exposures, by far, is infant and toddler "grazing"—where young children ingest mushrooms as a way of experiencing their environment. (This phenomenon is also commom with domestic dogs!) Fortunately, physicians have largely abandoned the use of Epicac, which was previously commonly used even in cases in which the patient showed no symptoms and uneaten specimens were available for examination, without consulting a mycologist to attempt to determine the identity and toxicity of the mushroom.

Incredibly enough, the fourth cause of mushroom poisoning is sheer foolishness: a false presumption that most mushrooms are safe, and/or that poisonous mushrooms "look," "taste," or "smell" undesirable. (As many victims of Death Cap poisoning can attest, it is not true!)

The Death Cap (Amanita phalloides): An Easy Mushroom to Identify

The cap is 2¼--6" (6--16 cm) wide, smooth, with greenish to yellowish pigments, usually sticky or slippery but sometimes dry, often adorned with one to several patches of thin white veil tissue. The gills are white, crowded together, and very finely attached to the upper stalk. In young specimens, a white, membranous partial veil tissue extends from the edge of the cap to the upper stalk, covering the gills (later remaining attached to and draping from the upper stalk). The spore print is white. The stalk is white to pallid, up to 6" (15 cm) long or tall, with a large rounded bulb at the base; the bulb includes a white sac-like volva (see the two photos on this webpage). THE BASE OF THE STALK AND THE TELL-TALE VOLVA ARE OFTEN BURIED IN THE SOIL.

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