Oh dear…
BBC News – Mushroom soup claims fourth victim in California.
The Amanita family, according to Wikipedia “is responsible for approximately 95% of the fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning, with the death cap accounting for about 50% on its own.”
At a lecture I attended at the Vancouver Mycological Society, I learned that an Asian edible mushroom – The Straw Mushroom – was very similar in appearance to the young “Death Cap” and that recent immigrants to Vancouver quite regularly ate the latter by accident, resulting in poisoning. Perhaps this was the case in the BBC story… a little further South.
Wikipedia: Young Death Cap
Wikipedia: Safe-to-eat Straw Mushrooms
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