Lobster Mushroom Possibly Poisonous???

Hi All,
I picked my first lobster mushrooms this weekend after having a person who picked mushrooms and sold them for a living (family business) identify them. Today I have been reading about how the parasite could possibly infect and transform a poisonous species of mushroom. Some people apparently say that poisonous species transformed by the parasite are no longer poisonous. The person that showed me how to identify the mushroom did not tell me this. By the time we were done I was under the impression the parasitic fungus was very host specific and could only infect species non-toxic to us? Any thoughts on this? Has anyone ever heard of any poisonings related to picking and eating lobster mushrooms?

 

"They" have confirmed that none of the Hypomyces lactifluorum hosts are toxic. Although that was long suspected, it was somewhat recently confirmed as fact.

I say "they" because this news was announced by local mycologists to the VMS group a year or more ago ... but I've been trying to find the original research and so far I've not been able to track it down. I'd like to find it also so that I can cite that specifically in answer to this question <grin>.

Although Hypomyces tend to be very host specific, I understand that "they" have not proven the same for the Hypomyces species that creates the green lobster.

Here's a link to SVIMS key to PNW Hypomyces in case you are interested
http://www.svims.ca/council/Hypomy.htm

 

Green Lobster!!!! Thanks. I am interested and going right there.

 

They BETTER be edible. My wife and I are working our way through 10 lbs of these things. Don't know if my waistline can stand all that butter though!

 

Thanks I had been wondering about that, and recently passed on some beautifull ones, because of it.

 

Hi Tanuki,

The mycological societies in B.C. have all been informed that research has confirmed that H. lactifluorum does not infect/transform any poisonous mushrooms. It is a Lactarius/Russula lover with a predilection for R. brevipes.

No confirmation on the yellow/green Alberta Lobster.

cheers,
frog

 

Curiosity has got the better of me. Informed by whom?

 

Curiousity is the best thing! But sadly my recall is not certain: When we book speakers, often the Fraser Valley Mushroom Club and South Vancouver Island Mycological Society books them as well in a sort of circuit, so often we get the same news at the same time. Likely this came via a PNW Key Council member.
When this thread started, I went confidently googling, looking for the research cited as I expected this would be easy to find. I've not tracked it down yet, admittedly having spent limited time, so I think I'll pursue this by emailing the question to a couple of PNW mycologists of note. Will post any info I receive.

 

That would be greatly appreciated Frog. Thanks...

 

On Lobsters: Hypomyces/Host specificity

Well, I'm getting closer to the answer. I've received only one response thus far confirming that H. lactifluorum uses non-toxic hosts in Russula & Lactarius genera in this region.

I was also directed to the following link but do not yet have a solid confirmation.
http://nt.ars-grin.gov/taxadescriptions/keys/HypomycesIndex.cfm

When/if I find further data, I will post it.

frog

 

Great Frog. I'll wait ....

 

Any new new on the Lobster??
That was my second wild mushroom to eat and I'm still alive???

 

Yellow green Hypomyces is Hypomyces luteovirens. It is a Hypomyces but NOT the lobster mushroom; this is the problem with using common names. Hypomyces also parasitizes Amanita species - Hypomyces hyalinus - and makes them white, again, NOT a lobster mushroom but still a Hypomyces. the only hypomyces that turns golden orange is the lobster mushroom, and this has never known to cause any poisonings.

 

I agree with MycoRob that no poisonings reported from H.lactifluorum, and I've eaten specimens with great gusto and appreciation.

On host specificity: I tried to find the source of the information that this Hypomyces had been "proved" to have no poisonous hosts, but was unsuccessful: Everyone I spoke with had also heard this, but could not recall who reported it to us. Others told me that H.lactifluorum demonstrated a clear preference for R.brevipes, that most red lobsters tested were found to be on R. brevipes. But again I could not trace the source of this information.

-frog

 

Thanks for the update guy on the orange red lobster. That one taste good to me so I will try to find more... Do you guys like lobsters?

 

Most wild mushroom aficianados like lobster mushrooms. They are selling them for $14/lb at the Granville Island Market in Vancouver.