Eat One, Or Even A Half Of One Of These,

and you will probably die,

photograph George Chernilevsky/Wikimedia Commons, they are the the ‘death cap’ mushroom (Amanita phalloides), according to the Guinness Book of Records are the most deadly mushroom in the world, and unlike their European cousins that spread slowly, this poisonous mushroom is quickly spreading across California, from the Bay Area further up the coast, eventually becoming more abundant than in its native Europe, but why the sudden spread in the USA? apparently according to a new study published on January 31 to the preprint server biorXiv, death cap samples collected from all over California are perfect copies of each other, clones produced asexually, without needing to mate to spread their spores in new, unconquered regions. This reproductive capability surprised researchers, as DNA samples from European death caps clearly showed that it reproduces sexually. The same goes for mushrooms collected from New Jersey and New York, scientists theorize that Amanita phalloides is capable of switching on asexual reproduction to help it rapidly spread across new regions, and then switch back to sexual reproduction once the colonization is complete, so when you go down to the woods today be very careful which mushrooms you pick,

photograph AYArktos/Wikimedia Commons, and now for the gruesome bit, there is currently no known cure for death cap poisoning. Fluids can help alleviate the symptoms, and a few specific treatments have been shown to improve survivability, but poisoning is often times fatal, the symptoms are from six to seventy-two hours after consumption, the amatoxins in the death cap mushroom enter the liver through the intestinal tract and then bind to protein-producing enzymes, preventing them from doing their job. With no protein production, the liver begins to die, causing nausea and diarrhoea, which is often followed by other organ failures, coma, and death, the amatoxins produced by Amanita phalloides are thermostable, which means they resist changes due to heat, so the effects of the toxins are not at all reduced through cooking. It is estimated that half of a death cap mushroom is enough to kill an adult human, so unless you have someone like my Nan with you who knows what is safe and unsafe to eat in the mushroom department, be very, very carful!