Carol Jensen wrote:
Carol
I find this most surprising myself and wonder if it could be an
exaggeration. I would very much like to know the scientific name of this
apparently so exceedingly poisonous species, as in all my mycological
studies I never heard of such a one. Just atpresent though i don't have
time to look up the refeernces or do my own search.
Of course I am not very familar with North American species, but there
are certainly a small handful of very nasty ones in Europe, especially
some of the species belonging to the genus Amanita, which can kill you
very rapidly if you actually eat even one, but these can be at least
handled (as I have done picking them to study) with no ill effects. Even
among the Amanitas, while at least two species are deadly if eaten (The
Destroying Angel, A.virescens and the Death Cap, A phalloides) others
are less dangerous and one species (A.cesaria) is actually very nice to
eat and quite safe (if you can be sure you have identified it correctly,
of course). One of the best known mushrooms in this genus is the Fly
Agaric with its big bright scarlet cap decorated with white spots (every
kid's idea of a fairy's toadstool I guess). This is poisonous, but not
quite so dangerous as its cousins. In small quantities it is said to be
hallucinogenic (I would guess this is your Bersekers mushroom Carol).
Some Amanitas may not be nice to humans, but they are very valuable to
plants as they all form ectomycorrhizae. A, phallodes associates with
oaks, but A muscari is a bit more of a "Universal Aunt" living on the
roots of a number of different trees including pines oaks silver birches
and sweet chestnuts, and although not native it is very common in NZ,
no doubt having originally made its way here with one or other of these
imported trees. We also have native (mostly poisonous) species which
service native trees.
As to how likely the mushrooms in one's back yard are to be dangerous, I
guess they are probably like the snakes, a very few actually dangerous
and many have a most undeserved sinister reputation. When Penguin
published a little book of poisonous mushrooms in Britain just after the
war there were actually too few species to fill even their thin little
booklet and the second half of the book was taken up instead with some
edible kinds. Sadly, I seem to have temporarily mislaid my copy and hope
it turns up again as it is a very useful little book as a quick
reference with most elegant and accurate illustrations.
Recently I borrowed from the library a most sumptuous volume with
magnificent photos of all the edible mushsrooms found in Britain and the
number and variety was quite staggering. Half of them i had never even
heard of! I was quite envious, as while there are a lot of mushrooms in
NZ, not all have been studied in detail and so only a few of the local
kinds are known to be not only safe but also nice to eat.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
I think the Viking mushroom was the one that looks like a real mushroom. I can tell the difference myself - about the first thing I learned when I came to Denmark, as they both are very common, the while Agaric and the wild mushroom (on cow patties the latter).
We have lots of the red spotted ones too - they are very pretty, I think. They are certainly MY idea of a toadstool that a leprecaun might like!
Carol
