#mushroom poisoning

[rebeccathenaturalist]

*deep breath* This, folks, is EXACTLY why I am writing The Everyday Naturalist. Because it's not enough to have an app. You HAVE to know how to use multiple identification tools and have keen observational skills if you are going to safely forage or otherwise identify things in nature.

Here's the deal. Apps are a tool. They are not infallible, and they should never, ever, EVER be your only tool for identifying mushrooms and other organisms. This goes even moreso for when you're trying to determine whether something is edible or not. I go into more detail about why apps should never be used by themselves in this article that I wrote a few months back, but let's explore a bit more about how an app works.

Any identification app has access to a particular database of pictures and other information for various species. In the case of my favorite app, iNaturalist, it draws from the over 156 million (and growing) observations of animals, plants, fungi, and other living beings that have been uploaded to it over the years.

When you upload a photo to an app, your phone usually inputs the date, time, and GPS location automatically, though these can be updated manually if need be. Then the app's algorithms sift through the database looking for species that are found in the same location at the same time of year, and which have similar photos.

Notice that I said SIMILAR, not identical. Many organisms, to include many fungi, have varying appearances based on subspecies, life stage, and other factors. And there are a lot of species that have close lookalikes, whether we're talking birds, wildflowers, mushrooms, etc.

So the algorithms then use their search results to give you their suggestion(s) of what most closely resembles the organism you are trying to identify. Some give you one answer; others, like iNaturalist, offer you a list to choose from, and may also qualify their response with "We're not sure, but these were found nearby" or something similar. The first one on the list is NOT always going to be the correct answer. However, the app doesn't have reasoning skills, and all it can do is play match-up and then produce suggestions based on that. (Yes, other iNaturalist users can come along and comment on your observations once you've uploaded and saved them, but you always want to carefully assess their claims, too.)

There are several toxic mushrooms that are implicated in poisonings on a regular basis; among them are what I call the "deadly Amanitas": the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and the destroying angels (A. bisporigera, A. ocreata, and A. verna.) In addition to these species' respective native ranges in Europe and North America, some have managed to make their way to other parts of the world. This includes in Australia, where there is a current investigation underway over a woman who fed several family members deadly Amanitas, three of whom have died.

These poisonous mushrooms have several edible lookalikes. As one example, while matsutakes (Tricholoma matsutake) are often brown, they may sometimes appear white, especially if the brown layer has peeled off. And field mushrooms (Agaricus spp, especially A. bisporus and A. campestris) are also large white mushrooms, though their gills and spores tend to be brown rather than the white of Amanita species.

Still, someone taking a picture of a large white mushroom--especially if they neglect to take another picture of the gills (the more pictures you take, the better)--could easily end up with an app telling them an Amanita is an Agaricus. Or they might read that some people think it's safe to eat Amanita muscaria if you parboil it long enough, and assume that other Amanita species are the same way (one of MANY reasons I do not advocate for treating A. muscaria as an edible.)

So--again--DO NOT USE APPS AS YOUR ONLY ID TOOL. Use them in conjunction with multiple field guides, websites, other foragers, etc. Practice using these tools and developing a critical eye before you go out foraging. Be super cautious, and when in doubt, throw it out.

And my inbox is ALWAYS open, as is my email (rebeccathenaturalist(at)gmail(dot)com.) You can ALWAYS email me with questions about field guides, apps, and other resources, and I am also happy to look at pictures of mushrooms (and other living beings) you're trying to identify, whether edible or not. You might need to give me a few days to reply, but I will get back to you. Don't use ME as your only source, either; I'm just one person. But I can point you to online groups that are also good resources.

[crystal-p1lls]

Update of my favorite OC 🫶

[troythecatfish]

Here’s my personal recommendation of a article to check out:

[gretavdr]

Everyone is entitled to privacy

There has been surpassing interest in the media about the mushroom poisoning case in rural Victoria. Erin Patterson prepared beef wellington for a lunch with her former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband, Ian. Three of her elderly guests are dead and the fourth, Ian Wilkinson, remains in a critical condition in hospital. Their symptoms fit…

[richdadpoor]

Google Search AI Gives Ridiculous, Wrong Answers

Google’s experiments with AI-generated search results produce some troubling answers, Gizmodo has learned, including justifications for slavery and genocide and the positive effects of banning books. In one instance, Google gave cooking tips for Amanita ocreata, a poisonous mushroom known as the “angel of death.” The results are part of Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience. Google’s…

[dangerdust2]

A new study has shown that a commonly used medical dye acts as an antidote for poisoning by the “death cap” mushroom, Amanita phalloides. The death cap is thought to be responsible for 90% of mushroom-linked fatalities each year. The research is published in Nature Communications.

No fun with fungi

Mushroom poisoning is a global issue that is thought to kill hundreds of people worldwide each year. Death cap mushrooms account for more than 90% of those deaths. Unsurprisingly, mushroom poisoning is a greater threat in cultures where the consumption of wild mushrooms is more commonplace. In China, nearly 40,000 illnesses and 800 deaths were recorded between 2010 and 2020.  

[art0wl]

it had to be done

[nikonautic]

☆ undertale x cookie run crossover (oventale)

!! this is a reupload from instagram, as i want to bring some stuff here as well + they are sprite edits !!

it all started with me jokingly making the triple cone trio into sans, papyrus and frisk... *sigh*

also yes, characters might not be perfect for their roles but the lore looks nice this way i think!!

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[lindagoesmushrooming]

[julianplum]

🍄 🐸 🌷 🥀 🐌 // poison garden // gouache on hot press paper

everything pictured in this piece is a poison: henbane in blue, belladonna in green, amanita muscaria in red, rosy bonnet in pink, lily of the valley, strawberry poison dart frogs, hickory tussock moth & caterpillar, ladybug. not the snails, though! they're just hanging.

[id: an illustrative gouache painting on a dark background. lush intertwined botanicals with textured blue and green leaves weave between red, white, and pink flowers. red frogs and ladybugs perch on stems, colorful pink and red mushrooms burst from the ground, and a moth hangs off a leaf. snails stroll quietly over the tops of mushrooms and along the ground. /end id]

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So. ID apps. Do I use them in my classes? Yes, but only iNaturalist, because you get an additional layer of verification by actual human beings rather than just the initial algorithmic suggestions. And, more importantly, I stress again and again and again that apps are NOT to be the only tool you use, but need to be used in conjunction with field guides, online groups, and other tools, which we also discuss in class. This is especially true if you're planning to eat anything you pick.

I get incredibly frustrated by how ID apps are often touted as all you need to identify animals, plants, and fungi. (I've even seen them described as "a Master Naturalist in your pocket".) Yes, it's nice to have a convenient tool on your phone that allows you to take a picture of something and get a suggestion of what it is. But that's all it is--a suggestion. iNaturalist, Google Lens, PlantSnap, and other apps are incapable of critical thinking and observation skills. All they can do is take the visual, temporal, and location data that you give them and churn up suggestions based on whatever they already have in their databases.

Nature identification is a detail-oriented skill that takes time and practice to learn, and if you want to do it right there aren't any one-step shortcuts. Can an app potentially narrow down the possible species you're observing? Sure. But YOU still have to be the one to do the actual work in determining whether the species the app has suggested is the one you're looking at in person or not; you CANNOT just take the app at its word, because apps can often be wrong.

And this is even more the case when we're talking about edible mushrooms, many of which have lookalikes. (Trying to figure out which Little Brown Mushroom you have can be an exercise in frustration, to say the least.) While there are a lot of people getting into foraging who are willing to do the actual work needed to determine a given mushroom's species, there are unfortunately also those who just want quick and easy answers without a lot of effort, and those are the people who are going to go no further than the app's results. The articles that promote apps as the quick and easy answers these people want aren't helping, either.

By the way, I am ALWAYS happy to help people find resources to help them with identifying various beings in nature. I'm also fine with taking a look at photos and giving my perspective on what something may be (though, again, don't use me as your only source.) While I do teach foraging, I am first and foremost a nature identification instructor, and I want to help people go about learning the life forms around them correctly (and in the case of edible species, safely.)

[hourly-cookie-run]

🥖 Looks like Butter Roll Cookie has prepared a sweet cake! 🎂 This cake was made by a dough expert, so it must be super delicious... right?! 🫢

[mixtercandy]

made bookmark designs for a zine that got canned :/

[unluckyprime]

assorted crks 💛

[scarabeeart]

i love the sillies

[confetti-flower]

Posting on Tumblr again for the first time in years to share this ok bye