Wild mushrooms: lethal, medicinal and mysterious

LINDA DROLLINGER
Posted 8/21/12

LAKE ARIEL, PA — “There are old mushroom hunters. And there are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.” With the warning implicit in those words uppermost in their …

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Wild mushrooms: lethal, medicinal and mysterious

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LAKE ARIEL, PA — “There are old mushroom hunters. And there are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.” With the warning implicit in those words uppermost in their minds, 50 wild mushroom hunters headed onto a Lacawac Sanctuary trail to learn the difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms. Nathaniel Whitmore, experienced local herbalist and president of the Delaware Highlands Mushroom Society (DHMS), had just given them a 15-minute crash course in plant biology.

The August 27 wild mushroom walk, sponsored by the DHMS, was one offering in Lake Wallenpaupack’s annual Wally Lake Fest celebration. It attracted a diverse group, some with ethnic backgrounds rich in the use of mushrooms as food and medicine. Others were gourmets interested in mushrooms as a culinary delicacy. Some hoped to make a fortune trafficking in truffles. And there were those mainly interested in the mushroom’s ancient reputation as antibiotic par excellence.

Technically, mushrooms are not plants, but members of the fungi kingdom more closely resembling animals than plants. The reason: unlike plants, which take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis, fungi, like animals, take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. That is one of the few things scientists know about mushrooms.

Whitmore pointed out that mushrooms may be the next great scientific frontier. Only about 15% of mushrooms on earth have been identified by taxonomists—scientists who classify living things by genus and species. Of those, only a handful have been identified as poisonous. So it would seem to follow that most mushrooms are safe to eat. But on that particular walk, poisonous varieties vastly outnumbered edibles. And distinguishing between the two is clearly a science still in the making.

“Start with a minimum of five field guides,” advised Whitmore, noting that no one book is comprehensive in scope and that most such guides focus on the mushrooms of a particular region or sometimes of a particular type. But he cautioned that no amount of book learning is a foolproof guarantee of safety, a point illustrated by those mycologists who completely omit mushrooms from their diets.

Aside from color—the more colorful are usually poisonous—taste is one way to tell if a mushroom is edible. Whitmore nibbled, savored the flavor for a moment or two, then spat out what he had bitten off, as a connoisseur would do at a wine tasting. “If it bites (spicy in flavor), it’s generally poisonous,” said Whitmore, adding that after a few tastings the palate’s reliability can be compromised.

“Can you be poisoned just by tasting, even if you don’t swallow?” asked one hunter.

“Generally, no,” answered Whitmore, qualifying his answer by observing that mushroom poisons are liver toxins and that in today’s world the human liver is already strained by chemicals common to modern life.

As one of the children sniffed his mushroom find, another danger presented. Said Whitmore, “I advise against smelling the gills [folds on the underside of a mushroom cap]; inhaled spores have been known to produce mushrooms in human lungs.”

If that weren’t enough, Whitmore mentioned that mushroom poisoning can be deceptive or difficult to diagnose. Its symptoms may mimic those of a panic attack that comes after indiscriminate ingestion of mushrooms. (“Call me before you eat unfamiliar wild mushrooms, not after,” was Whitmore’s advice to a person experiencing those symptoms.) It can also be mistaken as an allergic or food sensitivity reaction. Sometimes mushrooms cause vomiting or diarrhea that passes in a day or so. But if poisoning has occurred, death may follow weeks or months later, after the liver and kidneys are slowly destroyed.

Just as folks were tempted to flee from mushrooms altogether, someone found a piece of decaying wood riddled with Turkey Tail mushrooms, the most famous mushroom in the world. Widely used as conventional cancer treatment in Asia, it contains PSK, an extract commonly used by Western biomedicine in cancer immunotherapy.

Whitmore left the group with one final reflection. “I spend the better part of my life in the woods hunting botanical medicines. I’ve had hundreds of tick bites, but I’ve yet to experience a positive Lyme Disease test. I think that’s because I eat a lot of mushrooms.”

DHMS promotes the appreciation of mushrooms in the Upper Delaware Region, teaching mushroom identification and cultivation, the distinction between edible and poisonous mushrooms, and the use of mushrooms as medicine. For more information, visit www.dhmushrooms.org.

For more information on Nathaniel Whitmore, visit www.nathanielwhitmore.com.

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