Amanita toadstool (yellow-green, lemon yellow, lemon). Pale grebe is a green fly agaric

Residents of the Carpathians recognize only one mushroom - white, and the rest are not even considered mushrooms... Perhaps it is for this reason that in the Carpathian region there was poisoning with a deadly mushroom - green (Amanita phalloides (Fr.) Link), better known under the trivial name "pale toadstool" - are extremely rare. Pale grebe green fly agaric – detailed information with photos of the mushroom and video.

Unfortunately, most of the victims of the pale grebe can be observed in the eastern and central regions of Ukraine and the southern part of Russia. And it is not surprising, because the diet of the inhabitants of the steppe, with rare exceptions, never included mushrooms. However, everything changed in the 1960s, after the development of the virgin steppes.

The inhabitants of the steppe were faced with the problem of dust storms that blew away the top layer of soil, and it was immediately decided to plant shelterbelts. Trees that had never grown in the steppe did not want to take root, but scientists found a way out - they brought in forest soil.

It would seem that the trees are growing, dust storms are tamed, and the state with bread is conquered and working in the interests of the country of the Soviets. Along with the forest soil, spores and mycelium of many macromycete fungi, without which trees could not grow, entered the steppe zone.

Is it bad that mushrooms, familiar to northerners, came along with the forests? Probably not, but in addition to edible ones, poisonous ones also appeared far in the south, of which the green fly agaric is a pale toadstool...

Pale grebe fly agaric green photo video

The natural habitat of the green Amanita is the coniferous and deciduous forests of Europe and North Africa. However, along with seedlings of various trees, the toadstool spread across all continents, where it took root and entered into symbiosis with native tree species, partly displacing the local ones.

So, in California ( North America) this fungus coexists well with the Coastal Oak (Quercus agrifolia Ne), in Central Africa the toadstool has coexisted with species of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus L'Hr.), and in New Zealand with the local endemic species Leptospermum JR Forst. & G. Forst .) and Kanuku (Kunzea ericoides (A. Rich.) J. Thompson) ... Together with seedlings of oaks and pine trees, the green Amanita has spread to Australia and South America.

With the arrival of autumn comes the hot season " quiet hunt“- mushrooms appear everywhere, in the Carpathian mountain smerechnyaks, and in the Polesie swamp forests, and in the Dnieper oak forests, and forest belts along fields, highways and railway lines are no exception.

At a time when Galicians or Volynians, with the arrival of autumn, go into the forest for porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis Fr.), the Sloboda and Dnieper residents are not so lucky - they have to be satisfied with champignons (Agaricus), umbrella mushrooms (Macrolepiota (Scop. : Fr.) Singer, 1948) and russula (Russula Pers., 1794).

An inexperienced mushroom picker, at the same time, can confuse these edible mushrooms with the deadly poisonous toadstool. Moreover, they can grow together under the same tree, so you should be very careful when collecting mushrooms - if there is the slightest doubt about their species, then such mushrooms should not be collected. This simple rule can save a life.

Please note appearance pale toadstool, it is different from champignons!!!

Descriptions of the pale grebe are innumerably duplicated in the media, books, brochures, posters and Internet sites, it seems that everyone has already heard, knows and is following, but deaths continue to appear.

Therefore, it is necessary (even despite numerous photographs) to briefly remind readers of the description of this dangerous mushroom. The green fly agaric, also known as the pale toadstool, belongs to the Amanitaceae or Amanitaceae family (Amanitaceae R. Heim ex Pouzar 1983) - these are mushrooms with a lamellar hymenophore.

That is, if you turn the mushroom over, you can see plates (such as in the photo above) from the bottom of its cap, diverging centrifugally from the stem. Russula and champignons also have similar plates.

A distinctive feature of the pale toadstool, for example, from champignons, is a very strong thickening of the leg at the base, which is shrouded in a special blanket - Volvo (a feature of all fly agaric mushrooms).

There are also remnants of the veil in the middle of the stem, something similar is found in champignons; the color of the cap of the toadstool is very variable: it can be completely white, yellowish, greenish, and even reddish, which is why it is often confused with other mushrooms...

Pale grebe poisoning symptoms

The danger of the green fly agaric poison lies in the very slow manifestation of its effect. Unlike other mushrooms, toadstool toxins, spreading throughout the body, do not initially cause pain, nausea, fever or other signs of poisoning, however, having penetrated all organs and tissues of the body, they slowly cause their pathological changes.

It should be noted that signs of poisoning appear only after 1 to 3 days, and in children - after six to ten hours. The appearance of the first symptoms is observed already when the poisons have seriously damaged the organs and stimulated the metabolism.

It is for this reason that the mortality rate for poisoning with toadstool is sometimes up to ninety percent... With timely diagnosis and proper intensive care, the number of deaths can be reduced to thirty to thirty-six percent, and in countries European Union- up to fifteen percent.

The venom of the toadstool contains a “whole bouquet” of potent toxins; scientists have divided them into two large groups: amatoxins and phalotoxins. They are polycyclic peptides. In addition to them, biochemists discovered another toxin - antamanide.

Each of these toxins has its own target, and together they actually completely destroy the body’s metabolism. For example, amatotoxins inhibit the vital enzyme RNA polymerase II. This enzyme is responsible for the synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries information from DNA to proteins.

Stopping RNA polymerase II causes the cessation of protein biosynthesis, depletion of cell reserves and its death. At the same time, phalotoxins exhibit a low hemolytic effect - they are able to destroy red blood cells, which limits the access of oxygen to tissues and organs.

Although, recently evidence has emerged that negates the toxic effect of phalotoxins, since they are said to be poorly absorbed by the walls of the stomach and intestines. These statements usually require further verification.

The first organ that is affected by the toxins of the toadstool is the liver, because all the absorbed digestive system substances first pass through this kind of filter of the body. Impaired liver function due to the death of its cells leads to the penetration of toxins into the blood, and with it into all organs.

The first signs of poisoning with toadstool

The clinical picture looks rather pessimistic. The first signs of poisoning with toadstool are nausea and headache, which are observed from one to three days after eating the mushroom. They are followed by intestinal colic, diarrhea and fever.

The patient experiences severe muscle pain and thirst. At this time, the size of the liver increases, and it seems that the person is developing jaundice.

Subsequently, the pulse weakens and decreases blood pressure, loss of consciousness. Death occurs due to acute heart failure and toxic hepatitis.

The mortality rate due to mushroom poisoning in Ukraine and Russia is the highest of all food poisonings.

Despite such sad statistics, ordinary Russians and Ukrainians continue to collect and eat mushrooms unknown to them, endangering themselves and their loved ones.

Amanita phalloides (Watl.: Fr.) Link

The cap is ovoid to flat-convex, prostrate with age, slimy, 6-12 cm in diameter, greenish to yellowish-olive, usually with dark, ingrown fibers, rarely almost white or dark olive-brown. White flaky warts are scattered on the surface of the cap at a young age, which disappear in adult fruiting bodies. The pulp is white, thin. The plates are loose, wide, and white.

The leg is cylindrical with a tuberous-widened base, white, yellowish or greenish, smooth or with scales. The volva is cup-shaped, wide, loose, white, usually torn into 3-4 parts (lobes) at the top. The ring is white, slightly striped above, usually erect, in the upper part of the stalk. The smell and taste are very pleasant; in old mushrooms the smell becomes sweetish and unpleasant, like that of crushed insects.

The fungus settles in deciduous (especially broad-leaved) and mixed forests, forming mycorrhiza with deciduous trees, in our conditions most often with linden. The fruiting period is from July to the end of autumn.

At a young age, the pale grebe can be confused with the edible float agarics, which are distinguished by the absence of a ring on the stem, and some champignons, which are distinguished by pink, red or brown plates. There are cases when it looks like russula with green fruiting bodies, when the pale toadstool was cut very high, right under the cap, which made it impossible, when sorting through mushrooms at home, to detect the ring and volva that distinguish this poisonous mushroom from russula.

The mushroom is deadly poisonous, and not only the fruiting bodies themselves are poisonous, but also the spores. This is the most poisonous species among all species belonging to the genus Amanita.

Toadstool toxins are bicyclic polypeptides containing an indole ring. They are divided into two groups with different effects. The first of them are amanitins. They are more poisonous, but slow acting. The second are phalloidins, less toxic, quick-acting toxins. Amanin occupies an intermediate position between them. The group of amanitins includes a-, (3, and y-amanitins.

Lethal dose amanitins for humans - 0.5-20 mg.

The group of phalloidins includes phalloidin, falloin, fallin, etc. The lethal dose of phalloidin for humans is 20-30 mg.

Amanitins and phalloidins act primarily on the liver, affecting the nuclei of liver cells and disrupting the intracellular transport of substances; In addition, lysis of blood cells begins, and disruption of the biosynthesis of protein, phospholipids, and glycogen occurs. All this leads to fatty degeneration and necrosis of the liver.

Unlike some others poisonous mushrooms, neither drying nor heat treatment does not eliminate the toxic effects of toadstool poisons. For poisoning, it is enough to eat about 1/3 of the fruiting body of the mushroom

Children are especially sensitive to toadstool toxins, in whom symptoms of poisoning begin with contraction of the jaw and convulsions. The main symptoms appear after 6 hours - two days. Vomiting, muscle pain, intestinal colic, uncontrollable thirst, cholera-like diarrhea (often with blood) begins. Pulse is weak, thread-like, low blood pressure, loss of consciousness is observed.

As a result of liver necrosis and acute cardiovascular failure in most cases death occurs.

AMANITA CITRINA

System:

Kingdom: Mushrooms (Fungi)

Department: Basidial fungi (Basidiomycota)

Class: Agariaceae (Agaricomycetes)

Order: Champignonaceae (Agaricales)

Family: Amanitaceae (Amanitaceae)

Genus: Fly agaric (Amanita)

Species: Amanita citrina (Schaeff.) Pers., 1801

Hat: 3-8 cm, hemispherical, then convex-prostrate to almost flat, thick-fleshy, with a smooth short-ribbed edge, light grayish-yellowish, pale lemon yellow or yellowish-greenish with light yellow-brown warts, sometimes so light as to be gray and yellow-green shades are barely discernible. The plates are whitish with yellow tint and a yellowish edge. The pulp is white, yellowish under the skin. The taste is quite unpleasant, the smell is reminiscent of raw potatoes. In the Russian Federation, in addition to the main one, there are 2 more color forms: the very common pure white (var. alba) and the rare gray (var. intermedia).

Amanita citrina var. alba

Amanita citrina var. intermedia

Leg: 5-12 x 0.8-2 cm, hollow with age, white or yellowish with a finely grooved ring. The base of the stalk is thickened, sharply tuberous, without a pronounced volva, with a characteristic groove-groove running around the stalk at the point where it “exits” from the tuber.
Habitat: inhabits deciduous and coniferous forests. Fruits abundantly, most often on poor acidic soils, forming mycorrhiza with oak, birch, spruce and pine. In the mountains it is found at an altitude of no more than 1000 m.
Fruiting period: July - November.
Distribution in the Russian Federation: the entire forest zone.

Edibility/toxicity, hallucinogenicity: a mushroom, the edibility or toxicity of which experts debated greatly for a long time. Now, however, we can assume that after sufficient culinary processing These mushrooms do not cause poisoning, although the fly agaric mushroom contains very small amounts of psychotropic substances of the tryptamine series: bufotenin, DMT And 5-MeO-DMT, and in very trace amounts - α-amanitin And phalloidin. Mild stomach upset can only occur when lemon yellow fly agaric is consumed in sufficient quantities raw. Pre-boiling draining the broth eliminates all potential threats.

However, due to some similarities with toadstool, I categorically do not recommend collecting these mushrooms for food purposes, especially for inexperienced mushroom pickers. Do not forget that the toadstool fly agaric has a fairly common white (almost uncolored) form, and in this form, inexperienced mushroom pickers can confuse it with the deadly poisonous stinking or spring fly agaric, as well as with the white form of the pale toadstool. The similarity with the pale grebe is also reflected in English name mushroom - False death cap (false death cap).

To be sure to distinguish the lemon-yellow fly agaric from the pale toadstool, you should remember that it has a lemon-yellow or yellow-green non-fibrous cap; the thickened base of its stalk forms a solid tuber, and the pale grebe has a green or yellow-green cap, permeated with yellow-brown fibers, and a thickened base of the stalk with a free (not attached to the stalk) volva.

In any case, taste qualities of the toadstool fly agaric is so low that you can eat it either for an experiment, to make sure of its safety, or out of great hunger, when it doesn’t matter what “goes into the furnace.”

The presence of bufotenine, DMT and 5-MeO-DMT puts this fly agaric on a par with other mushrooms containing tryptamines, and gives it the ability to cause psychodysleptic syndrome when poisoned.