Death-Cap Mushrooms Are Spreading Across North America

When I was young, I used to go mushroom picking with my dad. We'd find a logged area in the bush, and look for mushrooms growing in the stumps, But I was just along for the ride; my dad usually didn't let me pick anything because he (probably rightly) didn't think I'd be able to identify which ones were safe to eat.

I don't know what mushrooms growing in Northern Ontario fifty years ago were dangerous. I do know there were some that he pointed out that you had to avoid. I don't think that any were what's known as the death-cap mushroom, which is now spreading throughout North America. Its dangers and spread are documented in this article from The Atlantic.

Between a sidewalk and a cinder-block wall grew seven mushrooms, each half the size of a doorknob. Their silver-green caps were barely coming up, only a few proud of the ground. Most lay slightly underground, bulging up like land mines. Magnolia bushes provided cover. An abandoned syringe lay on the ground nearby, along with a light assortment of suburban litter.

Paul Kroeger, a wizard of a man with a long, copious, well-combed beard, knelt and dug under one of the sickly colored caps. With a short, curved knife, he pried up the mushroom and pulled it out whole. It was a mushroom known as the death cap, Amanita phalloides. If ingested, severe illness can start as soon as six hours later, but tends to take longer, 36 hours or more. Severe liver damage is usually apparent after 72 hours. Fatality can occur after a week or longer. “Long and slow is a frightening aspect of this type of poisoning,” Kroeger said.

I think if I were living in Vancouver, I'd avoid wild mushrooms completely.