VERY IMPORTANT
Please note: 

• The only way to know if a mushroom is safe is to have it identified by an expert.
   

• Just touching a poisonous mushroom can be dangerous.
   

• There are no safe ‘tests’.
   

• Expert identification is essential.

Read the above before finding out about

Amazing Mushrooms

With the start of the summer rains, many mushrooms are appearing on the school lawns.

Most of them are the common Field  Mushroom (Agaricus campestris), pictured below.

Field  Mushroom (Agaricus campestris)
This common mushroom is edible.
It is related to the edible button mushrooms often used in cooking and salads.
It is, however, similar to several poisonous mushrooms, so do not eat it.

The Death Cap pictured below (Amanita phalloides)
 occurs in South Africa, and could occur at Hilton College.

The Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

DO NOT EAT OR TOUCH

This is thought to be the most deadly mushroom known.
There is no known antidote to the poison.
People who make the mistake of eating this mushroom
will probably die or need a liver transplant.
 

Some differences between the Death cap (Amanita phalloides)
and the Field mushroom (Agaricus campestris).



Where do mushrooms come from?

 They are spread by spores, tiny ‘seeds’ which fall from a mushroom cap.
They are not caused by lightning, although they often appear after storms and rain.
This is because their spores are more likely to grow in damp conditions.

Mushroom spores fall out and can be collected on paper.
The spore print of a mushroom is used to help identify it.

 
A mushroom spore print

 
What are mushrooms? 

Mushrooms are not plants and not animals, but are in their own
kingdom – the Fungi, which includes such things as yeasts and molds.

We use fungi every day – bread is made using yeast, which is a fungus.

Fungi are not plants because they do not make their own food from light -
they eat things that are or were alive, such as
dead leaves, bread, old logs, decaying sticks and
roots underground, fruit, fingernails and many other things.