A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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i didnt even consider that this AI shit was going to claim to be able to ID mushrooms
ok ive been a little skeptical of the idea so far but now im fully convinced. this dumb ai shit is going to get people killed. like straight up more than one person is going to die because of these upjumped autocorrects masquerading as intelligence. and no one is going to be held responsible.
Adds this to the big list of horrible ways to die
I wonder if it fits above or bellow the Demon Core.
At least looks like this is quicker.
I love fungi facts.
This guy sees the most terrifying description of a toxin killing someone and goes "Yep, that's a fun mushroom facto"
Looking over the wikipedia page on this mushroom and all the similar, very edible ones...Yeah I'm never foraging mushrooms.
And this is why I grow my own. I'm very fond of Albino Texas PE6. Easy to grow, consistent, and you can clone and agar spawn over and over again. Such an aggressive little strain. And looks very distinct. Unmistakable.
Is the main visual difference just the stem or whatever it's called being much longer?
Lots of differences but the simplest one would be that button mushrooms would typically have color to their gills—depending on the species they usually start out pinkish or pale brown and move to dark brown as they get older. Destroying angel has pure white gills.
But button mushrooms are actually not very beginner friendly despite their familiarity since there are other poisonous lookalikes in many areas.
IIRC, the only definitive way to ID mushrooms is by making a spore print - and even then you need to know what you're doing.
Just doesn't seem worth the risk to me.
This is untrue. Spore print can be useful for some very similar species or when you are first learning but I’ve been picking and eating wild mushrooms for about 15 years now and I basically never do a spore print anymore. Once you learn it’s pretty unnecessary. The ones I pick are easy to ID anyway. Most people can learn to identify them fairly quickly with some instruction though I have noticed that some people lack the attention to detail to be good at it.
chanterelles are pretty safe to forage if they grow near you.
they are very distinct looking.
Yeah, I carefully read the description of its distinguishing features, studied the photo, and concluded I have no idea what I'm looking at and how to tell them apart.
I'm really good at spotting differences or inconsistencies, I'm totally lost with mushrooms though, and I go multiple times every Autumn with a woman in her 70's. She is very clear about what we are looking for. She throws out at least half of what I gather.
She does that cause she's jealous of how many you pick
Cool, I think you just saved me a bit of time.
Looks like a destroying angel (e.g. Amanita virosa) to me. This and the death cap together account for the vast majority of mushroom poisonings in the world. Cooking it will not destroy the toxins, nor will acid. Symptoms tend to appear 5-24 hours after eating, too late to pump the stomach. Half a mushroom can be enough to kill you.
I don't recommend going out to pick mushrooms unless you know what you're doing. If you do, stay away from the white ones. You can still get terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea from other colors of mushrooms, but the white ones have the most dangerous species.
What about a base?
Not sure about this one, but acid resistance is pretty relevant because of the typical stomach environment. In general, amatoxins are just very stable and it's difficult to deactivate them.
They sound a bit like prions in that way lol
Easiest way to avoid problems I've heard is to never pick any mushroom with ribbed underside. If the underside looks like a sponge, it's usually safe to eat. At least where I'm from.
Yeah, the sponge underside mushrooms are boletes, and I am not aware of any that are poisonous.
There are some that are, and they can be hard to identify as well. Still a good idea to never eat what you find unless you’re with an experienced mushroomer to corroborate your find.
"How can I know they're an experienced mushroomed?" "Well, for one... they're not dead."
Might be valid advice for some regions, I don't know. But mushrooms tend to vary quite a bit in appearance. Sometimes ribbed species don't have very visible ribs, or younger mushrooms don't quite have all the characteristics of their mature form. If you really want to get into picking mushrooms, there's often local groups you can join with a resident expert who can tell you which ones are safe.
Amanita bisporigera, or the aptly named eastern North American destroying angel, if anyone's wondering.
From Wikipedia:
The principal amatoxin, α-amanitin, is readily absorbed across the intestine, and 60% of the absorbed toxin is excreted into bile and undergoes enterohepatic circulation; the kidneys clear the remaining 40%. The toxin inhibits the enzyme RNA polymerase II, thereby interfering with DNA transcription, which suppresses RNA production and protein synthesis. This causes cellular necrosis, especially in cells which are initially exposed and have rapid rates of protein synthesis. This process results in severe acute liver dysfunction and, ultimately, liver failure.
I could not confirm that it causes liquefactive necrosis of the liver specifically, however. I wouldn't doubt it, but I couldn't confirm it.
Edit: I should clarify, I got this from the original thread on Bluesky, not my own identification.
Which mushroom is it then? 😱
Eastern North American Destroying Angel. Half a mushroom is enough to completely destroy your liver and symptoms show up too late to do anything about them
The symptoms can even disappear after some time, so you think you'll be fine and then you experience a second onset that kills you.