An out of place mushroom

I thought it was interesting that after this discussion, one of those crawlers came across my television screen last night saying "two seniors die after eating soup made with wild mushrooms". Without access to more information, I will bet they were of Asian decent and living in California. Recent Asian immigrants are delighted to find wild mushrooms almost identical in appearance to their beloved "Straw" mushrooms which grow wild back in Asia. They have no way of knowing the North American version is commonly known as "The Death Cap" and is normally found in many public parks, college campuses, golf courses, and other manicured landscapes. They are one of the most common mushrooms on the West coast, but are also found less commonly across the United States into Maine. The toxin found in the Death Cap forms microscopic crystals in the blood stream and destroys the liver when filtered from the blood stream. The only effective remedy is a liver transplant.

I find it interesting that even the supposedly accurate news outlets or informative blogs on the internet use mostly incorrect photos to identify the Death Cap. The Fly Agaric seems to be the most commonly used photo. While it is hallucinogenic, it isn't the Death Cap or the Avenging Angel. It is the beautiful little red capped mushroom illustrators like to use with a gnome or fairy sleeping beneath it in children s books.

If you are interested, here is a link to a few of the bad boys.

http://www.crystalkiss.com/this-is-n...s-around-with/

Ted

[Fusion_power]

Unfortunately, one of those 'bad boys' makes a yearly appearance in my yard. I also get a showing of giant puffball mushrooms and an occasional psilocybe out back near the woods.

DarJones

[dice]

If you buy something from Fungi Perfecti (Mycogrow, etc),
they you send you a catalog that lists books, kits,
professional myco-culturing and sterilization tools,
etc. The popular edible mushrooms basically grow
on wood. Downed trees, cut rounds, beds of wood
chips, etc. Some species of mushrooms prefer hardwoods
over softwoods. Others do not care, any kind of wood will
do. We have lots of fall and spring mushrooms in this
climate, because we have lots of rain during those
seasons.

The main edible species have temperature ranges when
they fruit. Blue Oysters, 45-65F, Shiitake, 50-80F, Reishi,
70-80F, Turkey Tails, 65-75F, and so on. Most of the Fungi
Perfecti kits will fruit indoors in any season.

http://www.fungi.com/