mushrooms that contain toxins
Gyromitra brunnea is a false morel (see FFF#034) that is fairly common in the eastern and midwestern parts of North America. Like the other false morels, it has a solid to chambered stipe and a wrinkly head. The thing that sets G. brunnea apart, however, is that the cap is highly lobed and there are white seams along the edges of the lobes. No other false morels feature these seams, making G. brunnea easy to identify.
The genus Verpa contains just a handful of species that are encountered occasionally. These mushrooms look a lot like morels (FFF#033), but are attached just at the top of the cap and have a stipe filled with cottony material. The cap of a verpa hangs down around the stipe, rather like a thimble on top of a finger. This arrangement has led to the common names “Thimble Cap” or “Thimble Fungus,” although I usually just call them “verpas.” Verpas tend to appear just before morels, so if you find one you should come back to check for morels after a week or two.
If you are collecting for the table, this is one little brown mushroom (LBM) that you should definitely know. Most LBMs go unnoticed because they are heard to spot and are usually too small to consider worth eating. The “Deadly Galerina” is therefore usually not dangerous on its own. The real danger from this mushroom comes when it is accidentally collected along with a group of edible mushrooms. Galerina marginata contains amatoxins, which are also found in such infamous species as the Destroying Angels (Amanita virosa complex, FFF#050) and Death Caps (Amanita phalloides, FFF#051). In England, G. marginata goes by the beautifully ominous name, “Funeral Bell.” Unfortunately for me, people in the United States prefer the much blander common name, “Deadly Galerina.”
Fungi appear in the news with surprising frequency. However, many of those stories do not provide any new information. Below is a summary of news stories that have taught me something about fungi from mid-May through Early September 2018. Read each summary to learn about: zombie ants, mushroom poisonings, White Nose Syndrome, Bananas, and more.
Scleroderma citrinum is a common earthball that appears in a variety of habitats around the world. The mushroom is one of the most often collected Scleroderma species, so one of its common names (mostly used in Europe) is “The Common Earthball.” S. citrinum has a couple other common names: “The Pigskin Poison Puffball” and the less common “Golden Scleroderma.” Both of these names refer to the mushroom’s outer surface, which is yellow-brown and has a scaly texture reminiscent of a football (American style, often called a “pigskin”). The mushroom’s thick warty outer skin makes it stand out among other earthballs and its interior that quickly turns blackish easily separates it from the true puffballs.
Gyromitra caroliniana, variously called the “Red False Morel,” “Carolina False Morel,” or – my personal favorite – “Big Red,” is a false morel (see FFF#034) that can grow to astounding sizes. It has a reddish-brown cap that is tightly wrinkled, making it look very similar to true morels (see FFF#033). The easiest way to differentiate Big Red from true morels is to cut it in half; true morels have a central hollow chamber while false morels like Big Red are solid or have lots of small chambers. Big Red gets its common name from its cap color and the fact that it routinely produces mushrooms that weigh over three pounds.
Fungi appear in the news with surprising frequency. However, many of those stories do not provide any new information. Below is a summary of what we’ve learned about fungi from November 2017 through Early February 2018. Read below to learn about: zombie ants, aflatoxin control, white nose syndrome solutions, using fungi in concrete, and more! Visit the associated links to get the full story.
Ergot Alkaloids (EAs) belong to a large class of mycotoxins. They are primarily produced by fungi in the genera Claviceps and Epichloë, although Claviceps purpurea is responsible for most of the impacts on humans. EAs are most common in rye, but can be found in any cereal grain. The toxins were a significant problem in the middle ages, but modern agricultural techniques mean that exposure to enough EAs to cause symptoms is extremely rare.1,2 Sources Many fungi produce ergot alkaloids in many different plant hosts. Humans are impacted most by species of Claviceps, which infect seeds of grasses. The most problematic species is C. purpurea (see FFF#061), which infects rye. A variety of other species infect cereal grains but cause less contamination. Livestock can be sickened by infected grain or by ergot alkaloids produced by endophytes in pasture grasses, most notably by Epichloë coenophiala.1–3 This post focuses on Claviceps and...
You are undoubtedly familiar with this mushroom, even if you recognize neither its scientific name, Amanita muscaria, nor its common name, “The Fly Agaric.” If the word “mushroom” does not immediately bring this fungus to mind, then the word “toadstool” probably does. You have certainly encountered A. muscaria’s distinctive red cap with white spots in a variety of visual art forms. This toadstool frequently pops up in paintings, cartoons, video games, movies, and decorations. Essentially, A. muscaria is the default mushroom that people (in Western societies, anyway) think of when they hear the word “mushroom” – the type specimen for mushrooms, if you will. This is probably best illustrated by the Wikipedia page for “Mushroom,” which features a prominent picture of the photogenic Fly Agaric. Morphology Amanita muscaria produces large, umbrella-shaped agaric mushrooms with a circular, brightly colored pileus and a central, white stipe. The pileus ranges in size from...
Unlike most other mycotoxins found in food, the ochratoxins are primarily produced during food storage. Fungi in the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium are common molds that decompose a variety of foods, from grains to coffee to grapes. In the process, many of those fungi produce ochratoxins, which can damage the kidneys and cause cancer in many animals. Ochratoxins presumably impact humans the same way, but researchers have so far been unable to directly link ochratoxins to any human disease. This is probably because human consumption of ochratoxins is usually very low.
![#011: Characteristics of Kingdom Fungi [Archived]](https://www.fungusfactfriday.com/wp-content/themes/hueman/assets/front/img/thumb-small-empty.png)
