California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.
The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.
“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible safe mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”
I loved plant ID books as a kid, and even ate some of the safer ones.
I decided “Why not get into mushroom foraging?” And bought a book on them. Reading it cover to cover, I swiftly realized that far too many look almost identical when young, when old, when wet, have imitators, etc. it’s been decades and I still don’t fuck with mushrooms. My mother independently came to the same conclusion when she took an interest in mushrooms, lmfao.
There are just as many, if not more, poisonous plant species compared to mushrooms. And just like with plants, there are mushroom species that are extremely easily identifiable and other that closely resemble poisonous species.