A Bouquet of Poisonous Mushrooms.Number 3 is Amanita phalloides.
From: McIlvaine, Charles.
One Thousand American Fungi.
Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill Company, c.1900.
(All Images Courtesy of: Farlow Library, Archives, and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany.)
Amanita phalloides, his name means "phallus-shaped fungus." Sounds pretty sexy until he gets intimate enough with you to reveal his nickname: "The Death Cap." And once you've had a taste of this fellow there's no turning back, every part of this mushroom is poisonous, and a death cap weighing less than two ounces contains more than enough toxins to kill an adult human.
Detail From: Murrill, William A.
Edible and Poisonsous Mushrooms.
New York: W.A. Murrill, 1916.
Figure 32 - Venenarius phalloides (Amanita phalloides).
According to mycologist David W. Fischer, "No mushroom is worthier of fear than the terribly poisonous Death Cap (Amanita phalloides). This single, widespread species of mushroom is solely responsible for the majority of fatal and otherwise serious mushroom poisoning cases, worldwide as well as in North America. Indeed, one might argue that the Death Cap's notorious, relatively frequent victimization of Homo sapiens is far and away the best explanation (or rationalization) for the widespread fear of edible wild mushrooms."
Bridgham, Joseph
Unpublished watercolor, circa. 1890,
Incorrectly identified as Amanita phalloides pale form,
but probably Amanita mappa, which contains almost no toxins.
Alleged victims of the deadly Amanita phalloides, or one of its almost equally lethal kissing-cousins, include Roman Emperor Claudius, Pope Clement VII, Tsaritsa Natalia Naryshkina, and Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. And more recently, Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer and his wife, Charlotte, were ill for months and underwent kidney dialysis after partaking of poisonous mushrooms they plucked on a forest walk in Great Britain. To this day, there is no known antidote for the toxins found in the death cap, which attack and shut down the liver and kidneys.
Detail From: M. C. Cooke,
Handbook Of British Fungi,
With Full Descriptions Of All The Species.
London, New York: Macmillan and co., 1871.
Plate 2 - Amanita phalloides.
Note at bottom of plate written by William Gibson Farlow,
indicating the identification is incorrect.
Such dire consequences would lead most folks to think that scientists over the centuries would have been particularly meticulous when describing and depicting these delicate dispensers of death. But according to an online exhibit from Harvard University, "For such a deadly mushroom it is truly frightening how often it has been misidentified and misrepresented in mycological literature." The exhibit uses rare books and materials from the Farlow Library, Archives, and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany to illustrate the varied--and quite frequently inaccurate-- representations of Amanita phalloides, dating from 1727 to the present, in literature, illustration, specimen, and even in song.
Taylor, Thomas
Student's Hand-Book Of Mushrooms
Of America Edible And Poisonous.
Washington: A. R. Taylor, 1897-98.
Included in the Harvard show are several contemporary reports of mushroom poisoning, such as this one from Volume 96, Number 3 (1996) of The American Journal of Gastroenterology:
Detail From: Murrill, William A.Edible and Poisonsous Mushrooms.
New York: W.A. Murrill, 1916.
Figure 32 - Venenarius phalloides (Amanita phalloides).
According to mycologist David W. Fischer, "No mushroom is worthier of fear than the terribly poisonous Death Cap (Amanita phalloides). This single, widespread species of mushroom is solely responsible for the majority of fatal and otherwise serious mushroom poisoning cases, worldwide as well as in North America. Indeed, one might argue that the Death Cap's notorious, relatively frequent victimization of Homo sapiens is far and away the best explanation (or rationalization) for the widespread fear of edible wild mushrooms."
Bridgham, JosephUnpublished watercolor, circa. 1890,
Incorrectly identified as Amanita phalloides pale form,
but probably Amanita mappa, which contains almost no toxins.
Detail From: M. C. Cooke,Handbook Of British Fungi,
With Full Descriptions Of All The Species.
London, New York: Macmillan and co., 1871.
Plate 2 - Amanita phalloides.
Note at bottom of plate written by William Gibson Farlow,
indicating the identification is incorrect.
Such dire consequences would lead most folks to think that scientists over the centuries would have been particularly meticulous when describing and depicting these delicate dispensers of death. But according to an online exhibit from Harvard University, "For such a deadly mushroom it is truly frightening how often it has been misidentified and misrepresented in mycological literature." The exhibit uses rare books and materials from the Farlow Library, Archives, and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany to illustrate the varied--and quite frequently inaccurate-- representations of Amanita phalloides, dating from 1727 to the present, in literature, illustration, specimen, and even in song.
Taylor, ThomasStudent's Hand-Book Of Mushrooms
Of America Edible And Poisonous.
Washington: A. R. Taylor, 1897-98.
Plate XV, figure 8 - (Amanita) phalloides Fries.
Included in the Harvard show are several contemporary reports of mushroom poisoning, such as this one from Volume 96, Number 3 (1996) of The American Journal of Gastroenterology:
On a summer day in 1995, a 51-year-old grandmother in Alabama sent her husband to collect mushrooms for a family Sunday brunch. On his return to the kitchen, she breaded and fried the morsels, then proudly served her brunch specialty to her children and grandchildren. The chef and her husband had recently moved from Illinois to the South, and they were happy to find that the mushrooms that they loved to collect up North were plentiful in Alabama as well.
Within twelve hours, the cook and three of the brunch guests were sickened with abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. The three adults eventually recovered, but the youngest patient, her 3-year-old granddaughter, did not survive—a victim of fulminate liver failure. Unknowingly, the Alabama grandmother had mistakenly served her precious loved ones a heaping platter of deep fried deathcap mushrooms, Amanita phalloides, perhaps the most deadly of the 2000 species of mushrooms found on our planet.
Bulliard, Pierre.
Flora Parisiensis : Ou, Descriptions Et Figures
Des Plantes Qui Croissent Aux Environs De Paris.
Paris : P.F. Didot, 1776-1783.
Plate 625 - Fungus phalloides Vaill.
Also part of the exhibit are some poetic takes on our fickle friend, the death cap:
Don't eat amanitas--you'll quiver,
You'll fall to your knees and you'll shiver.
Poison mushrooms, that's why,
And you'll probably die.
If you don't then you'll need a new liver.
Will kill with the sped of a cheetah.
Though it's mushrooms you've bought,
Added toadstools are thought
By a killer to make things much sweeter.
Within twelve hours, the cook and three of the brunch guests were sickened with abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. The three adults eventually recovered, but the youngest patient, her 3-year-old granddaughter, did not survive—a victim of fulminate liver failure. Unknowingly, the Alabama grandmother had mistakenly served her precious loved ones a heaping platter of deep fried deathcap mushrooms, Amanita phalloides, perhaps the most deadly of the 2000 species of mushrooms found on our planet.
Bulliard, Pierre.Flora Parisiensis : Ou, Descriptions Et Figures
Des Plantes Qui Croissent Aux Environs De Paris.
Paris : P.F. Didot, 1776-1783.
Plate 625 - Fungus phalloides Vaill.
Also part of the exhibit are some poetic takes on our fickle friend, the death cap:
Don't eat amanitas--you'll quiver,
You'll fall to your knees and you'll shiver.
Poison mushrooms, that's why,
And you'll probably die.
If you don't then you'll need a new liver.
by Meg Beagle
Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form
Will kill with the sped of a cheetah.
Though it's mushrooms you've bought,
Added toadstools are thought
By a killer to make things much sweeter.
by Isaac Asimov
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
May 1984
Asimov's limerick takes more than the usual amount of poetic license. One of the truly unfortunate aspects of Amanita phalloides poisoning is that the acute initial symptoms--violent vomiting and diarrhea, accompanied by severe stomach cramps--disappear after about 24 hours. (They start about 6 hours after ingestion.) This leads victims to believe that the "food poisoning" is over, and they are on the road to recovery. Especially in the case of misdiagnosis, even doctors will assume the danger has passed, and the patient will be discharged. In reality, the liver and kidneys will continue to be attacked, leading to jaundice and renal shutdown, which causes coma, organ failure, and/or death.
Lenz, Harald Othmar.
Die Nützlichen Und Schädlichen Schwämme,
Nebst Einem Anhange Über Die Islandische Flechte.
Aufl.: Gotha, Becker, 1840.
Taf 1, 1 - Agaricus phalloides.
There are tens of thousands of species mushrooms and toadstools worldwide. The terms go back hundreds of years, and are essentially interchangeable, having never been properly defined. Between 1400 and 1600 A.D., the terms tadstoles, frogstooles, frogge stoles, tadstooles, tode stoles, toodys hatte, paddockstool, puddockstool, paddocstol, toadstoole, and paddockstooles were used synonymously with mushrom, mushrum, muscheron, mousheroms, mussheron, or musserouns. It was generally thought that to be called a toadstool a fungus had to be inedible and perhaps poisonous, while the moniker mushroom meant it was tasty and harmless. In fact, the killer Amanita phalloides is actually quite delectable.
The best advice about picking and eating wild mushrooms might come from the punchline of the favorite gag of mycologists. When these experts are asked whether of not a particular mushroom is edible, their answer is likely to be, "You can eat any mushroom once!"
__________
Lenz, Harald Othmar. Die Nützlichen Und Schädlichen Schwämme,
Nebst Einem Anhange Über Die Islandische Flechte.
Aufl.: Gotha, Becker, 1840.
Taf 1, 1 - Agaricus phalloides.
The best advice about picking and eating wild mushrooms might come from the punchline of the favorite gag of mycologists. When these experts are asked whether of not a particular mushroom is edible, their answer is likely to be, "You can eat any mushroom once!"
