Does anyone know what type of mushroom this is it is just a piece of it, my daugher ate the rest that is why I'm trying to find out what it is, she has already seen the doctor just in case it is poisonous, they didn't know what kind of mushroom it is?
Huh. Can you make a cut through it and then take a picture of the inside of it? Where was this thing growing? underground? on the grass? any trees around? if so, which trees?
Sorry the piece I have is almost dried out, it was the only mushroom that was in the area, it was in our daycare's playground, no trees around, but their play area is full of wood chips, it was a really thin mushroom cap, can't find anymore mushrooms around the area to get a good look at it, we are in Vancouver, BC
Here is a couple other pictures of it, sorry I couldn't find anymore, it didn't seem to bother her, the doctor did give her charcoal to neutralize it if the mushroom was toxic.
Given how dried your specimen is, i assume that the consumption was at least several days ago. I also assume that your doctor told you to monitor the child for obvious symptoms of poisioning, and i further assume that none of these symptoms have developed. It's nearly impossible to ID the mushroom at this point, but it is very likely that the mushrooms will come up again ... either after the next rains or maybe even next year. You can always keep an eye on the area and get some good photos of the mushroom when you see it again. Again, this is purely an academic question as your child was likely unharmed from the mushroom.
Thanks, yes she seems like she was unharmed by it but it was a real scare, it was actually just yesterday, the mushroom isn't that dried out, it almost looks the same as yesterday, i had it stored in the fridge in tin foil as the doctor suggested in case she started feeling bad later on, as poison control said some mushrooms take affect a few hours after the fact.
Just curious--did the mushroom have a particular odor--baby powder, rubber, earthy, anise, etc.? Some fungi can be reasonably identified to genus via their odor...
Sounds scary, luckily there are no deadly specimens on the lawns. Considering the woodchips, there are some guys who can be less benign, but I'm sure that she is past any danger at this point. If you have that piece, you can send it to me and I can try to analyze it. Ot, as MycoRob pointed out -- these mushrooms will show up again. Lawn species tend to fruit frequently if it rains. D. www.mushroomhobby.com
Clitocybe dealbata, Panaeolus foenisecii and Chlorophyllum molybdites can occur in lawns, can't they?
Yes, all of them can and that's their primary habitat. Good choices!! But none of them is anywhere near deadly. Some gastrointestinal upset is likely, but no more. C. molybtides fruits only in very hot areas, like San Diego and the Central California Areas. P. foenisecii isn't even poisonous probably, at best it could be slightly halucigenic. C. dealbata is known to be upsetting to people. None of these are much more than a nuisance. D.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_poisoning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadly_fungi The use of the term poisonous has confused me regarding field guides. I've eaten over 300 species thus far, some of which are considered poisonous. It's better to be safe than sorry, but I enjoy mycophagy...
Dimitra, I'm sorry to have to do this publicly, but for the sake of the thousands of Psilocybe hunters who show up here in the PNW ever fall, I'm must take deep exception to that claim. I am in regular contact with NAMA's Toxicology Committee for the purpose of gathering the statistics that go into the poisoning database Dr. Beug compiles and publishes each year. This puts me in a position to see who ate what, what they thought they were eating, and what the eventual disposition of each case was, even before the editors of McKilvania or Mycologia recieve it. And what I see is that although the number of fatalities is extremely low in N. America each year, of those that do happen, a common thread runs through them. Almost without exception the victims were from Eastern Europe or Asia.* And the mistake they made always seems to stem from a belief that what applies to mushroom-hunting back home must still apply to species found here in N. America. That is a fatal assumption to make. Now, I looked back at your own website and I see that from an otherwise extensive list of species, the two I had specifically in mind are both missing from your list of descriptions. I don't if this is due to their absence on the Continent or just exactly what the reason for that would be, but I strongly encourage you to go back and revise your webpage. Galerina venenata also goes by the colloquialism "Deadly Lawn Galerina". And Conocybe filaris, or "Deadly Conocybe" is a another small LBM that has a tendency to show up pretty much anywhere it feels like, including lawns. Both of these contain amanitins, the very same toxins that make the more infamous Destroying Angels and Death Cap, well....infamous. In any case, the LBM's simply have not been studied enough to even accurately classify many of them, so knowing whether they are toxic or not is out of the question. Then there's always the possibility of mycorrhiza growing on someones lawn. Since their distance away from the host tree can be up to 15 or 20 ft., this can and does give the impression to many that there's no relationship between them. This can...and does...lead to mis-identifications where the person believed they were eating the same Agaricus campestris (a saprophyte) they had picked and eaten dozens of times before. As well, the same species found in Europe (for example) may not contain the same ratio of compounds or alkaloids than those found here. In fact, even some species right here appear to vary a great deal from region to region on that matter. * a rash of deaths in the 2006 Toxicology Report were from among two separate extended family groups that had arrived here from S. America.
The last mushroom poisoning workshop I attended provided some horrifying stats on puppy deaths from eating Galerinas found in lawns. (Presumably growing on some wood under the lawn?). There was also an incident on Vancouver Island a few years ago of a fellow eating a mushroom from his lawn that turned out to be one of the deadly amanitas. I was told he survived long enough to receive a liver transplant.
Hi Gary (Mycos), it's certainly not my intention to be cavalier about the dangers due to carelessness when consuming mushrooms. But you have to interpret my response in the context of this thread -- certainly not as condoning reckless activities, but as an attempt to calm down in a reasonable manner a lady whose dependent ate a lawn collected mushroom, which appeared fleshy. The indication that there were no trees around does add to the reduction of the immediate likelihood of danger. As far as the phrase regarding the "deadly specimen" in the lawns, the more appropriate term should have been stated in terms of probability. It being "unlikely". As far as how we define the boundaries of lawns, I fully concur with you that it is nearly impossible to do so, particularly in urban environments where there are rarely lawns without trees around. Oh, this one deserves a separate thread -- I have significant reservations with the American interpretation of why Asians and Eastern Europeans tend to get poisoned more than others. I don't think that I've shared it with Dr. Beug yet, but will do so eventually. The idea that they "think that the mushrooms are the same" is a weak one. Far more likely, based on my experience in both Worlds and many conversations (without the need of a translator is this). They simply have a higher percentage of consumption and with that the risks simply increase. These same people get poisoned in their native lands just as well. BTW, we just created a forum, mainly shared amongst California types, but not strictly -- it's opened to all and tends to bridge the gap between the several local Societies, some of which require membership to join their groups. Anyway, check it out at Yahoogroups: MushroomTalk. This one is open to anyone to join -- you're welcome and we can continue the discussion in earnest.. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MushroomTalk/ D. www.mushroomhobby.com
I'm not sure how one is supposed to redirect a conversation to a new thread, in order that that the topic header becomes more relevant. So I'm just going to start a thread in the fungus/lichen appreciation forum called "fungal toxicity", as I find the topic interesting, and see how that goes. :-)
