The most poisonous mushroom in the world. How to distinguish poisonous mushrooms

Every adult knows that there are deadly poisonous species among mushrooms. Thousands of people die every year from poisoning. Such dangerous mushrooms grow on all continents except Antarctica. We present the names and descriptions of poisonous mushrooms. Of course, it is impossible to list them all in one article. Therefore, we will only talk about the most dangerous ones found on the territory of Russia.

Death cap

Number one in the world among the most poisonous plants is the mushroom, which is ubiquitous in Russian forests, meadows and pastures. This is a pale bastard. Agree, even in its name there is something unpleasant and repulsive. But outwardly, he is quite cute, depending on age, very similar to mushrooms, russula or greenfinches. Inexperienced lovers of quiet hunting are happy to fill their baskets with toadstools, because these mushrooms even smell pleasant and tasty.

Barely hatching from the ground, young pale grebes have a clearly visible vulva (protective film) and a white ovoid body. With age, they acquire a hat of white, greenish or grayish color. It can be slightly concave or even. The diameter of the cap reaches 15 cm. The stem of the mushroom has a white “skirt” at the top, and thickening closer to the ground. It is able to grow up to 16 cm long (usually about 6-7 cm), and 15-25 mm wide. The flesh of the toadstool is white, the taste is sweetish. It contains a huge amount of such poisons as amanitins, phalloidins and amanin. To die, it is enough to eat only a quarter of a hat.

Poisoning

This deadly poisonous mushroom is dangerous not only because it looks like edible mushrooms. Its cunning lies in the fact that the first signs of poisoning (uncontrolled vomiting, bloody diarrhea, severe pain in the peritoneum and muscles, heart failure, hypotension, thready pulse) appear only a day or two after eating the toadstool, when the liver and kidneys are already heavily destroyed. Another unpleasant nuance of poisoning is that on the 4th day an unexpected improvement in the condition may occur, which sometimes lasts for several days. After that comes death. A lethal outcome in case of poisoning with pale toadstools is recorded in 99% of cases.

fly agaric

We put these mushrooms in second position, as some of them are deadly poisonous. Many imagine him to be a real handsome man with a red hat with white dots. In fact, the fly agaric is not one mushroom, but a whole genus, numbering about three dozen species. Among them are the following groups:

Edible and even delicious (Amanita muscaria and Caesarea).
Conditionally edible (float or fly agaric Sicilian, ovoid, solitary, gray-pink).
Simply inedible, although not poisonous (toadstool fly agaric, yellow-green, bristly, prickly-headed, gray, purple, pineal, thick and others).
Toxic. To be fatally poisoned by them, you need to eat a lot of them, but in moderation they are hallucinogens. Such is the well-known fly agaric with a red hat in white specks. It is widely used in medicine, as a medicine, for example, against cancer, and in everyday life for baiting insects. Hence its name.

But there are also unusually dangerous species in the genus. There aren't many of them. The list of poisonous mushrooms included royal (not to be confused with imperial), spring (or white), stinky (or stinky toadstool) and panther fly agarics. Each of them contains the poisons muscarine, muscaridine, and some additionally contain hyoscyamine and scopolamine. Poisoning by these fly agarics in 9 cases out of 10 ends in death.

Short description

I would like to warn you that only those who are perfectly versed in them can collect fly agarics for food, because in many ways the “bad” and “good” species are quite similar.

Let's talk about the features of poisonous representatives.

Outwardly, it looks a bit like a red fly agaric, only its hat can be gray, brownish, greenish, light brown. Along its edges, flakes often hang from the bedspread. The pulp is white, does not change its color in the air. Its texture is slightly watery, foul-smelling, and tastes sweet. The leg is most often thicker downwards, slightly fleecy, has a white annular rim below. Individual specimens on it have a white fragile ring.

Fly agaric royal. This is a real giant, reaching 20 cm in height. The diameter of the cap can also be about 20 cm. This mushroom is hard to miss. Its cap can be ocher, brown or greenish, and flat, spherical or depressed in the center, with radial stripes. From above, it is covered with white "dots" (remnants of the bedspread). The pulp is from light yellow to brown, odorless. The leg is thick, whitish, thickened downwards, velvety, has several belts. A distinctive feature from the imperial fly agaric is that the cap of the latter is bright orange or ocher, without white dots.

false mushrooms

This is also not one mushroom, but a whole group that includes edible, conditionally edible, toxic (not fatal) and very poisonous. Outwardly, they all look like ordinary mushrooms - small in size, grow in a friendly family on stumps and old logs, have relatively long legs and bell-shaped or semicircular hats. You can distinguish "good" mushrooms from "bad" ones by their color.

Consider especially dangerous species:

Galerina can be safely called one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world, since when it is poisoned, a lethal outcome is recorded in 90% of cases. This false honey agaric can grow both as a family and singly. He has a convex hat up to 4 cm in diameter, a long leg (up to 7-10 cm). The color of the cap can be from pale yellow to brown-orange, and it changes, depending on the humidity. Almost always the outside of the hat is oily or covered with sticky mucus. The pulp is white or light brown, with the smell of flour. It contains deadly poisons amitoxins.

False foam brick-red. It is distinguished from the previous species by the color of the hat, which is most often rich brick. But there are specimens with orange, yellow and even white hats. In principle, this species is conditionally edible. In all cases of poisoning, brick-red false honeycomb is indicated erroneously instead of gray-yellow.

pig

Pigs were included in the list of poisonous mushrooms only in 1944. Before that, they were considered conditionally edible. The fact is that they contain a special antigen that sticks to our red blood cells, thereby causing an autoimmune response of the body. As a result, a person develops hemolytic anemia, renal failure, nephropathy. For this to happen, pigs need to be eaten for a long time (until their antigens accumulate in sufficient quantities).

Many people, having eaten them once, do not experience any painful symptoms, so no one associates a fatal outcome with a pig. The lethal outcome most often occurs in children and in people with kidney problems. Outwardly, the mushroom is quite nice and very similar to a good one. He has a thick short leg, a fleshy large hat (up to 15 cm in diameter), which can be slightly convex or flat. Its color varies from olive-brown to rusty-brown. The pulp in the place of damage (pressure) quickly darkens. In it you can often see worms and insects. Using the example of a pig, we can say that the signs of poisonous mushrooms do not always work. If you focus only on wormy hats or not, you can make a fatal mistake.

Omphalote olive

This plant is considered by some to be one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world, because the symptoms of poisoning (vomiting, diarrhea, salivation, sweating, irregular pulse, impaired vision and breathing) occur within 15 minutes after eating. However, death is rare. Usually, the victim's health is restored in a day.

On the territory of Russia, the olive omfalot is found in the Crimea. Outwardly, it looks a bit like tinder mushrooms. Grows on stumps, decks, trunks of deciduous trees. His leg is very short (up to 3 cm), but can be barely noticeable. The hat reaches a diameter of 12 cm. It is smooth to the touch, less often finely scaly. Its color is always in orange tones with the addition of red or yellow. A distinctive feature of the olive omphalot is that its plates glow in the dark.

Gindellum Peca

Each country has many of its own poisonous mushrooms. Of interest is the species of Gindellum Peck, named after the scientist - mycologist. In Russia, it is extremely rare in the Crimea and the Caucasus.

Many consider it the most poisonous mushroom in the world and even attribute mystical properties to it, because it is able to secrete a red liquid that looks like blood. Because of this, it is called a bloody mushroom or a bloody tooth. In fact, Gindellum Peck is not poisonous. Some people eat it after careful cooking. But there are few of them, since its flesh is very bitter.

Features

Of course, it is important to know how to distinguish poisonous mushrooms. Outwardly, they can be very similar to edible ones (for example, false chanterelle, burning russula, greenfinch). Only experienced mushroom pickers can recognize them. A pale toadstool is distinguished from champignon by the color of the plates, which are white in a poisonous mushroom and dark in champignon. The flesh of the toadstool is not as brittle as that of the russula, and the greenfinch, unlike the toadstool, does not have a vulva. External differences of other types of mushrooms may be different. What they have in common is that poisonous species are never wormy. Some "cooks" test the toxicity with an onion. To do this, place it and mushrooms in a container of water. If the bulb has darkened, then the contents of the container must be discarded. Note that these comparisons and experiments can be fatal. Therefore, it is better to avoid dubious mushrooms.