http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-men-hospitalized-poisonous-mushrooms-victim-doctor-talks-txt,0,4499323.story

These guys are VERY lucky that they are still alive.

Ops

except that all 5 may now need liver transplants...

Amanitas are not to be messed with.

Info on the genus.

Info on one of their toxins. Note that it can take quite a while for symptoms of poisoning to develop.

Article says the guy that gave it to them has been harvesting wild mushrooms for 30+ years.  Has that guy just been lucky all these years that he never picked & ate poisonous varieties before?  Hard to believe someone with that much experience accidentally misidentified a poisonous mushroom, let alone enough of them to hand out to those 5 guys.  Maybe he did it on purpose to those guys for whatever reason?

I had a very close friend in high school drive down south w/ another guy to pick mushrooms once. It was the same situation; the guy had been picking mushrooms in the same area for years and knew what to look for. The picked quite a few mushrooms and had fun time until they decided to split the last big mushroom cap.



The guy who picked them went to the hospital where they had to pump his stomach and god knows what else...my buddy decided to tough it out. He told me it was the worst experience of his life and that he spent 8 hours squatting in the bathtub, puking and shitting...all while tripping on the "good" mushrooms he had eaten previously

Last time I talked to him (years after this happened) he told me he still couldn't eat a full meal and had to just eat small portions throughout the day; he was also taking a prescription drug for acid reflux.



FWIW, I remember reading somewhere that because of the vast number spores in a single mushroom, it is possible for mutants to develop that resemble harmless species but are actually poisonous.
Speed



 

Well, this just cured me of ever wanting to eat mushrooms again!...P.S. My wife just chimed in and heartily agreed...No more for us.

My favorite mushrooms are the ones that come in a can!

You might say I'm not a fun guy but I say fungus is not food.

I love me some fresh shrooms fried up in butter.  And I always wondered what prevents some poisinous spores from getting in a mushroom farm in the air or on someones cloths.

Guy at was a mushroom hunter, that got sick from eating the wrong ones.

My family has been foraging wild edibles for as long as I can remember.  From Venezuelan beaches to Florida swamps to the Ozark mountains.  Grubby, dog-eared Euell Gibbons' books were always around.  

That being said, when it comes to wild mushrooms, which I heartily enjoy, I have realized that I treat them alot like reloads.  I do it, I love it, I'm extra careful, I check my work and I don't take someone elses' word that it won't kill me.

one of the few internet debates I have had was on this very topic.  Very well known member here.  I proposed that some dangerous phenotypes can look startlingly like the edible ones.  Not calling anyone out but I basically got the "I've been doign this for X years and I'm still kicking" arguments.  of course we did the gentlemenly thing and agree dto disagree, but I was concerned a new member may try his hand at discerning safe ones to eat.  I hope the folks heal up ok.

Normally, when one speaks of phenotypic variation, it is within a species, no?

Now,  if you mean that different species of mushrooms may have similar appearences––yes, that is something you should definately be aware of!  Like the edible (and choice!) chanterelle and the not-so-edible Jack O Lantern.  Or how young Destroying Angels can look like puffballs.
 
I'm a firm believer that you have to do your homework and invest time and effort into educating yourself before you harvest and eat your first wild mushroom.

With the possible exception of sticking with  morels, you've got to be a good amateur mycologist to be a good amateur wild mushroom eater.  You've got to have decent field guides, identified poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms, made spore prints and generally take things slow and easy.

Back to the reloading analogy:  Do people with experience blow up their guns with their reloads?  It happens.  Do people with no clue blow up their guns with their reloads?  It happens.  Do people manage to do everything right, everytime and enjoy years of blasting with no ill-effects?  Of course.
Does this fact scare off many people from reloading? Yes, and that may be a good thing.

Mushroom joke time. Out here mushrooms are rather rare. Surprisingly there is one growing in the dirt lot across the street from my house. I thought it was a broken piece of PVC pipe, but sure enough –– Mushroom.

Back when I was around 10 or 11, I was over at my aunt's house whom I never really liked. She had some mushrooms going in her front yard. I went and got some of the white mushrooms out of the refrigerator and made it a point to make a comment about the mushrooms on the grass. Bent down, and stuffed one of the mushrooms from the fridge in my mouth.

She damn near had a panic attack.

Aside from a few vitamins and flavor, mushrooms don't seem to bring the value to the table that foraging for other stuff would.

My great Grandma picked morels every year and had a multitude of preparations for those tasty shrooms.  I remember eating them when I was just 7 or 8 and loving them, all the while I hated mushrooms in general.  Now I love mushrooms but haven't had morels in years.  I've looked in all the places GG used to pick them but they just aren't there anymore.

I have Destroying Angel mushrooms in my backyard.

I dig them up (remove about a radial foot of soil) and bleach the new soil (probably a paranoid action) but one still pops up on occasion.

My kids are now fortunately at the age where they wouldn't eat mushrooms off the yard.

That said, I love mushrooms.

Yeah, except that that type of argument is the equivalent to saying "I've been hunting Bengal Tigers in Minnesota for years and have yet to be attacked by one so they must be a harmless animal!!" Okay, maybe that wasn't the best analogy, but you get the picture that correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation.

2nd

At sunrise, while turkey hunting a few years ago, I happened to look down and saw that I was surrounded by morel mushrooms.  After a few hours of no luck calling turkey, I finally switched tactics and just started stuffing the musette bag and every baggy pocket with morels ... and went home without a turkey but feeling like I had a successful day.

Any day with morels is a good day, brother.  I'll remember this morning for the rest of my life:


This was the turkey and mushroom dinner pic: