Deadly
Deadly galerina
Galerina marginata
The character that does the work
A rusty-brown spore print on a small brown mushroom growing from rotten wood. There is no field character that settles this one. Take the print.
Amanitin, a cyclic peptide that shuts down RNA polymerase II
The false recovery is the reason people die. Anyone who ate wild mushrooms and became ill the NEXT DAY needs a hospital, however well they feel by the time they get there. Cooking, drying and freezing do nothing to the toxin.
Amatoxin poisoning, in fullThe specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
2 to 4 cm, small, tawny to rusty brown, smooth, becoming paler and buff as it dries out from the centre.
02Underside
Attached rusty-brown gills, moderately spaced.
03Stem, and the base
Thin, brownish, usually with a thin ring or a ring zone that collects rusty spore dust.
04Flesh, cut
Thin, brownish.
05Spore print
Brown to rust
Rusty brown, and this alone separates it from the honey mushroom it grows beside.
How to take one06Where it grows
On well-rotted wood, chiefly conifer, in small clusters or scattered groups.
When to look
Typically Aug to Dec in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Common across the northern hemisphere.
What is worth knowing about it
Contains the same amatoxins as the death cap in a mushroom small enough that nobody takes it seriously. It kills experienced foragers, most often people harvesting honey mushrooms in bulk from wood, and people hunting small brown mushrooms for other reasons.
Confused with
- Honey mushroom
- Sheathed woodtuft
- Psilocybe species
This page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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