The aegis & intelligencer., 1906-10-19
DEADLY MUSHROOMS.
THE BEAUTIFUL BUT VENOMOUa
AMANlTA FAMILY.

rN"N'Nl - fNNilGI'
Beneath the Pleasing Exterior of
This Brilliant Fungus Turks n
Vicious Poison That Is Fatal to the
Lives of Men and Cattle.
In the dark shade of lofty pine trees
and under spreading oaks in more
open woods Il mushroom is found so
remarkable in color and graceful in
form that its beauty has excited ad-
miration for hundreds of years The
color of its bright orange cap and its
chalk white stem and gills is height
ened by the surrounding darkness of
the woods and presents a contrast as
singular as it is beautiful.
But beneath the pleasing exterior of
this brilliant fungus a poison turks so
fatal to the lives of men and cattle
that it is called the deadly amanita,
and in different countries mothers eau
tion their children to beware of its
charms
Amanita muscaria, the deadly, or
fly, amanlta, is completely incased in
a f1eece-like covering during the early
old6Co VA lto SIO"llJ WHICH AAnhCS ~
decidedly egg shaped in form. As
the stem lengthens this covering either
adheres in loose patches to the top Of
the cap or it slips away and forms a
sheatlfing to the cup at the base Of the
stem.
Another inner covering breaks away
in its turn from the cap as the mush-
room expands and forms a conspicuous
collar about the upper part of the
stem. The dubious base of the stem
and these rupturcd, fleecy coverings
are pronounced characteristics which
are most helpful in distinguishing this
dangerous fungus from the other yarie-
ties Of mushrooms.
| 1t Is strong, free from pests and
grows to height from four to sixteen
inches. In color the cap is sometimes
bright scarlet, again orange or yellow
OF reddish In the center and light yell
low toward the edges, and it has no
ticeable wartlike patches spread over
the top. On old plants the color fades
out, and late In the season particularly
forms of the deadly amanita are found
which are almost white. The stem is
easily separated from the cup ut its
| base.
This mushroom is more generally
known than any of the other poison
Gus species. 1t has long been used as
fly poison in Europe, and 1t takes its
name, muscaria, from the Latin word
| for fly. Its poisonous effect upon hu-
man beings begins u few hours after
| it has been eaten. The symptoms are
| nausea and faintness, with cold per-
spiration and stupor, followed In Sc
we're cases by death from q gradual
| weakening of the heart.
A strong emetic should be given at
| once, and in all cases q physician
should be called. Sulphate of atropin
| is the only known chemical antidotc
| for this poison, and to save the patient
| it must be promptly administered by
| hypodermic injections.
The poison may also be absorbed
through the pores of the skin, and bad
| cases of poisoning have been produced
| by simply holding an amanita in the
| closed hand or breathing its eXhala-
| tions in a warm room.
If poisonous mushrooms are packed
In the same box with edible ones the
virus from the poisonous fungi is alb
sorbed by the harmless mushrooms,
and they become as dangerous to eat
as the original offenders.
In certain countries the deadly anna
nita seems to lose some of Its virulen-
| cy, and in the north Of Russia and
| parts of northeastern Asia it Is used in
| the same manner as wine for its in
| toxicating effects. The mushrooms are
| gathered in hot weather and are hung
up in the air to dry or they are some
times picked fresh and put into soup
or sauces. A small amount swallowed
whole is enough to produce a days in
| toXication.
Another fatally dangerous member
of the amanita family is the death
| cup (Amanita phalloides), a beautiful
mushroom which also grows In the
woods, especially in pine forests. 1t Is
not so highly colored as the deadly
amanita, and, unlike that mushroom,
it has a smooth, satiny cap. 1t Is usu-
ally white or straw colored, but speci-
mems are found which are light brown,
green, yellow and spotted. The stem
is white and nearly smooth, and the
| cup at the base of the stem is inyaria-
bly, present.
The death cup is even more poison
GUS than the deadly amanita and
stands first among all noXiOus fungi
for it's poisonous qualities. 1t grows
In the eastern and middle states and
IN particularly large quantities near
the city of Washington.
| Another amanita (Amanlta vernus),
| found in the woods in spring, Is also
very poisonous and may be told by
| its color, which is 6 creamy white
throughout.
| Although it is said that the amanitas
are the only mushrooms which have
| proved fatal to human life, there are
| other varieties which cause such acute
distress that it Is we'll to guard against
eating them.
The boleti, for instance, have several
varieties which are nonedible, although
| many kinds, on the other hand make
| delicious food. The boleti are distin-
4 guished by spOnge-like surface OF
| pores instead Of gills beneath the cap.
| The harmful varieties are bitter, as
| rule, and change color to blue or red
| when cut or broken. The edible varie-
ties remain white-Annie Oakes Hunt
lngton in Youths Companion.