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People have been foraging for mushrooms since the Stone Age, but mycologists across the country say they’ve seen an increased interest in the hobby and a significant increase in poisonings, too.
“Fungi are kind of a hot thing right now,” said Dr. Matthew Nelsen, a research scientist at the Negaunee Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum in Chicago who is also president of the Illinois Mycological Association, a group that describes itself as “fungal enthusiasts.”
Mushroom motifs now decorate all kinds of things: tea towels, toddlers’ sweaters, table lamps. But when interest extends beyond mushroom stuffies to the real stuff, people really need to be careful.
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Even experts can have a hard time telling the toxic from the edible just by sight, mycology instructor Rick Van de Poll said. He has to examine some of them under the microscope to be sure they’re safe.
Typical scaremongering article—eating wild mushrooms is perfectly safe if you are willing to learn basic information about what you’re doing. The vast majority of people poisoned, like the man in the article, are those who made virtually no attempt to identify the mushrooms in question. Destroying angels and giant puffballs are radically different in appearance which would be revealed within 30 seconds of reading or viewing images online.
Regarding the microscope thing—sure, some species require a microscope to ID. As with all organisms, some closely related species can appear extremely similar. But I’m not aware of any commonly consumed species that can only be separated from poisonous lookalikes using a microscope. Most mushrooms people eat, like the giant puffball, can be reliably identified by novices with a few minutes of education and practice.
That said, obviously don’t eat something just because an app said maybe it’s something you can. That is moronic. Cool tattoo though.
Jesus Christ they mistook a destroying angel for a puffball. A simple ass Google search could tell have prevented this