Top 5 Deadly Mushrooms and Fungi
Mushrooms. You may love em' or hate em', but one thing is for sure;
you definetly shouldn't go around trying every single mushroom to see
which ones you like and dislike, at least not in the wild.
Now, if you do want to try all kinds of mushrooms, make sure you're buying them from a safe
and reliable sorce, like a farmers market. Even so, you should learn how to identify mushrooms, just incase the seller made
the mistake of picking the wrong mushroom. You may be wondering, how could someone pick the wrong mushroom?
Well, some kinds of deadly mushrooms look nearly the same as your edible varients, so it's safer to keep to the ones that you know for sure are safe.
You may be wondering; what makes some kinds of mushrooms poisonous or even deadly?
Well, here's your answer. Amatoxins, gyromitrins, and orellanine, are all common types of poison found in some of the deadliest mushrooms. Amatoxin is commonly found in the mushroom genus, "Amanita."
Amatoxins have the ability to contaminate your blood stream, causing things like your liver and heart to be damaged even with just a half of a mushroom cap. Heart and liver damage often becomes fatal.
Eating mushrooms with this toxin is not without pain either, because within a couple hours of ingesting, you'll have extreme abdominal cramps, severe vomiting, and diarrhea.
(Note: touching mushrooms is completely safe, you cannot be poisoned by touching them. This is true for all mushrooms accept one, "Podostroma cornu-damae." This mushroom looks like a red coral but on land, and it is found in Asia.)
Onto the 5 most deadliest mushrooms and fungi. Hope you never accidentally eat any of these, because it won't end well.
Death Cap / Amanita Phalloides
- causes severe vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea around 6-24 hours after ingesting.
- can also cause other side effects, including but not limited to headache, dizziness, and coughing.
- symtoms will clear after a day, but a couple days later someone may experience seizures, followed by a coma. Death by liver or heart failure can also occur.
- cooking the mushroom does not inactivate the toxin.
- Death Caps have a 10-30 percent mortality rate.
- Widely distributed around Europe
Fool's Conecap / Conocybe Filaris
- contains the same mycotoxins as the Death Cap
- causes severe illness and liver failure
- grows in mulch and flower beds
- commonly found in North America, Europe, and Asia
Deadly Webcap / Cortinarius rubellus
- found in high-latitude environments in Eurasia and North America
- ingesting results in kidney failure
- contains orellanine, a powerful mycotoxin
- year 1972 in Finland, four cases had occured, with two of them resulting in permanent kidney failure.
Autumn Skullcap / Galerina marginata
- contains the same amatoxins found in the Death Cap
- ingestion in toxic amounts causes severe liver damage with vomiting, diarrhea, and hypothermia
- eventually death if not treated rapidly after ingestion
- found in the Northern Hemisphere and Australia
- mostly found growing on decaying conifer wood
Destroying Angels / Amanita Virosa
- commonly found in Europe
- contains the highly toxic amatoxins, as well as phallotoxins
- causes liver damage
- closely related to Death Cap
