Deadly mushrooms

[Melbourne12]

We get threads from time to time about foraging for wild mushrooms.

Here's a cautionary tale!  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/06/death-cap-mushrooms-chinese-australia?CMP=twt_gu

[Melbourne12]

[Unwashed]

Shame The Grauniad couldn't actually find a picture of a Death Cap so people might have a reasonable idea of what it looked like.  Not a nice way to go.

[OllieC]

Not a nice way to go - but yes, the picture looks more like a Panther Cap to me. Not a mistake that even an idiot would make if they had the most basic of guides. Speaking as an idiot with a couple of rather good guides, I would never eat any of the Amanita family (or anything with the frilly necklace & bulbous base).

[OllieC]

They've now fixed the picture in the article!

[tai haku]

Not a nice way to go - but yes, the picture looks more like a Panther Cap to me. Not a mistake that even an idiot would make if they had the most basic of guides. Speaking as an idiot with a couple of rather good guides, I would never eat any of the Amanita family (or anything with the frilly necklace & bulbous base).

Given that I once saw an article on a major british newspaper's website about rhinoceros extinction accompanied by a photo of a hippo I find it best to never expect anything but idiocy from newspaper website photos.  ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Articles on honeybees are commonly illustrated either with bumblebees or with wasps.

[Vinlander]

I still think the best advice is to never eat anything you find that looks even vaguely like a normal mushroom.

That means you miss most of the really poisonous ones apart from the ones that look evil - and most people have enough nous to skip those.

If you then research the edible ones that look weird you can identify a small number of deadly imposters - easy to recognise and remember.

If for example you look for wood blewits then you'd have to be pretty dumb to make a mistake, and even then the few impostors won't kill you - they either taste awful or they will make you at worst very ill.

But don't eat ANYTHING without an exhaustive search - I always use at least 3 books.

[Nigel B]

If in doubt, take a spore-print. Get it wrong after that and you are only encouraging Darwinism.

[djbrenton]

Not a nice way to go - but yes, the picture looks more like a Panther Cap to me. Not a mistake that even an idiot would make if they had the most basic of guides. Speaking as an idiot with a couple of rather good guides, I would never eat any of the Amanita family (or anything with the frilly necklace & bulbous base).

Given that I once saw an article on a major british newspaper's website about rhinoceros extinction accompanied by a photo of a hippo I find it best to never expect anything but idiocy from newspaper website photos.  ;D

So they showed you an immature rhino who hadn't grown it's horn yet. What's your point?