Pale toadstool and its edible mushroom counterparts. Pale grebe: photo, description of the mushroom and signs of poisoning Pale grebe drawing for children

Pale grebe – one of the most deadly and poisonous mushrooms. Cases of poisoning do not occur everywhere, but in some cases the mortality rate after poisoning reaches 90%.

IN at a young age The pale grebe is ovoid and covered with a film. In adulthood, the mushroom has a cap-peduncle fruiting body.

The toadstool's cap can be olive, grayish or greenish. It reaches from five to fifteen centimeters. It can be flat or hemispherical in shape. The edge of the cap is smooth and the surface is wavy. When damaged, the flesh of the toadstool does not change. It is fleshy and white. The pale toadstool mushroom has a mild smell and taste. You can also often find a moire pattern on the leg. If the mushroom is old, it acquires an unpleasant sweetish taste and turns even more grey.

Very often, especially inexperienced mushroom pickers confuse the pale toadstool with or. To avoid confusion dangerous mushroom With delicious delicacies, you need to carefully inspect every centimeter. Champignon plates are pinkish when young, and then lilac. If the plates remain white all the time, this is signs of toadstool. To distinguish a toadstool from a russula, you need to look at the stem: the edible mushroom has no plates.

Having eaten this mushroom, you may not immediately realize that the body has been poisoned. The toadstool toxin is insidious and does not immediately make itself felt. No effect on mushroom poison heat treatment. First symptoms poisoning with toadstool may appear within a day, although all this time the body has been poisoned, the toxin has already begun to spread throughout all organs. A person poisoned by a mushroom begins to feel headaches, and only then the whole set of symptoms of poisoning - severe vomiting, thirst, anxiety, muscle pain, upset stomach and blurred vision. A poisoned person may develop jaundice, drop blood pressure, enlarge the liver, and weaken the pulse. If children are poisoned by toadstool, this leads to death in almost all cases. On the third day after poisoning, the condition may improve, but this is a false effect, and it lasts for a couple of days. Even if a person who has been poisoned by toadstool feels fine, the poison in his body continues to destroy the kidneys and liver. Death occurs within ten days from the moment of poisoning.

The poison of this mushroom is so strong that only thirty milligrams of toadstool is enough for a person to cause death. Therefore, even if you suspect poisoning, you should always contact a specialist. Only medical institutions can help cope with the poison. Slowness and self-medication in case of poisoning with the toadstool mushroom is a direct road leading to death.

Kira Stoletova

The most toxic mushroom that grows in any conditions is the pale toadstool of the genus green fly agaric. Contains a deadly toxin - phalloidin, which makes all its parts poisonous, including the mycelium. Poisoning with toadstool is often fatal.

Description of the toadstool

The poisonous mushroom toadstool belongs to the genus Amanita. Appears in forests in early June, after the first heavy rainfall, simultaneously with the first edible mushrooms. The largest increase is observed in August-September.

Characteristics of the mushroom:

• pale grebe grows large families, on all types of soil, it is very moisture-loving;
• the shape of the cap is round, diameter 8-14 cm;
• The color of the toadstool varies from milky white to black, sometimes gray-green, the structure is smooth, sometimes covered with scabs;
• the leg is snow-white, high (about 20 cm), widening at the bottom;
• geminophore tubular.

According to the description, the cap of the pale toadstool is flat-convex in shape. The plates located on the inside are white. When cut, the flesh is light green, almost white. Alaotranskaya - completely white.

The toadstool is similar to edible mushrooms; the pale toadstool can be distinguished by its stem. At the top, at a distance of 2-3 cm from the cap, there is a film ring. At the bottom of the stem there is a calyx (volva). When the young mycelium erupts, it is divided into 3-4 parts and is located directly near the ground. For edible mushrooms Such rings on the stem are not typical.

The volva is not part of the stem; it looks like the mushroom is inserted into it.

Types of grebes

Highlight the following types: Common pale, Violet, Western American, Blue, Blue, Meadow, Gray, Black, Dwarf.

The fly agaric genus includes an extensive list of mushrooms with the same characteristics. Caesar's mushroom - edible fly agaric, which is easily confused with its poisonous counterpart. Caesarean mushrooms grow in early summer and appear abundantly after the first rains.

The group of edible mushrooms includes the chicken mushroom or the variegated fly agaric. The caps of the mushrooms are red, with spots reminiscent of the plumage of a chicken, which is why it is called that. Maiden's, walnut and variegated umbrellas are suitable for consumption.

The main danger is that the toadstool looks like some edible mushrooms:

• green russula;
• champignon;
• greenfinch.

The description indicates that the toadstool of the genus Amanita is stinking - poisonous double true pale grebe. Green russula characterized by a compacted stalk structure. The hat is 14 cm, and in the heat it becomes shiny. The color of the skin is green for a young specimen, brown for an old one. The main difference: the toadstool always has 2 rings on the leg: above and below, the russula does not have them.

The first champignons appear in parallel with the toadstools. The pale toadstool looks like a young champignon. The edible adult champignon is distinguished by a semicircular head, white, tightly seated on a thickened stalk, on which there are no rings. To avoid poisoning, do not eat raw mushroom.

Green mushrooms are dense in structure, green mushrooms. Mushroom stems are dense and brown. The main difference is that young greenfinch grows at shallow depths. They can also be distinguished from edible ones by their smell. Pale toadstool has a distinct, pungent, acidic odor.

Properties and toxicity

The poisonous substance amanitin in the mushroom is a slow-acting poison. The second toxin of the toadstool is no less dangerous - phalloidin. Fast-spectrum substance. Psilocybes have a hallucinogenic effect. Toadstool mushrooms grow everywhere, they can even be found in private summer cottage, yard lawn, vegetable garden and closed greenhouse, if the spores were brought in from the street.

Signs of toadstool poisoning may appear only 24 hours after consumption.

If a person ate a poisonous toadstool and help was not provided immediately, then after 2-3 days of exposure to toxins all his organs will fail. Survivors are subsequently forced to undergo treatment for the rest of their lives, feeling the consequences of poisoning with toadstool.

Symptoms of poisoning with toadstool:

• signs of poisoning by toadstool are absent for 12-48 hours;
• intoxication - an acute phase, accompanied by severe pain in the abdomen, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, severe dehydration: skin blue, blood pressure is elevated, muscles contract convulsively, dehydration is pronounced;
• however, at this stage it is important to determine the degree of poisoning: if the toxin content in the blood is high, then death occurs on the 3rd day;
• psilocybin substances cause hallucinations;
• if help was not provided within 3 days, complete destruction of all organs and systems occurs: people died from kidney and liver failure.

Interesting facts: the toxin contained in its composition is partially beneficial, but is not compatible with alcohol. The mushroom is used to make an antidote that protects against poisoning by other poisonous mushrooms. When walking through the forest, you should not pick unfamiliar mushrooms, information about which you have not studied. Even experienced mushroom pickers often bring home poisonous doubles instead of edible ones.

Application

In cooking

Eating toadstool is strictly prohibited. It is classified as a highly toxic species of mushroom, but the edible fly agaric or Caesar's mushroom is quite edible and has a pleasant taste.

It is used to prepare various culinary delights. It is not suitable for winter preparations. The broths taste like broths made from summer mushrooms. Their mushroom smell is weak.

Maiden, walnut and variegated umbrellas are mostly used for drying. Mushroom pickers claim that their caps have a piquant taste and a pleasant aroma when dried.

How to prepare Mushroom Chicken cauliflower. It is rolled in flour, then fried in vegetable oil with onions. It has a taste reminiscent of chicken meat.

In medicine

Lamellar species of mushrooms are actively used in folk medicine and unconventional movements. For example, homeopaths prepare infusions from poisonous plants and mushrooms. They are sure that they will not large quantities poison is a disproportionate benefit to the body. Traditional healers make tinctures.

Treatment with drugs for their poisons is dangerous. Before use, carefully read the instructions with the names of the substances included in the medicine. Do not start homeopathy treatment without consulting a doctor at a regular hospital.

They produce an antidote that neutralizes the poison of any variety of pale grebe. The cure is still undeveloped and thousands of people die from poisoning every year. Lethal dose: 100 g. The only chance to escape is to seek help in time.

The green toadstool smells similar to the first spring mushrooms. In such cases, the only way to determine whether a mushroom is poisonous or not is to show the suspected toadstool in the laboratory and conduct an analysis. There is a misconception that fly mushrooms are not worm-bearing - some red worms live inside the mushroom and feed on its body.

The poisonous grebe contains a huge amount of toxins that can kill even large animals weighing more than 150 kg.

There is a way to test mushrooms for toxicity. It is believed that in a decoction of poisonous mushrooms the silver will turn black, but the first broth made from any mushrooms collected in the forest has a black tint and the silver in it may turn a darker color.

Get rid of toadstools if they have grown on garden plot, it is better to carefully, using protective gloves, collect the mushrooms, twisting them by the roots and dispose of them, having first studied everything about the toadstool. Mycelium develops on fruit trees.

Conclusion

Pale toadstool mushrooms can be found in the forest in any part of Russia. The venom of the toadstool is extremely toxic. It is equally dangerous for people and animals. The biggest danger is that clinical symptoms of poisoning appear no less than 12 hours later. By this point, the poison has already been distributed throughout the body; it has the ability to destroy cells of the kidneys, liver and heart. Many people died from poisoning with this mushroom.

From mushrooms. This product is a rich source of vitamins and protein. Mushrooms have been used as food since ancient times, and to this day they have not lost their attractiveness. But there are species that hide a deadly threat. One of them is considered to be the pale (white) grebe. The second name is green fly agaric. Eating this mushroom ends badly for most people; 90 out of 100 cases are fatal. Sometimes even the most avid mushroom pickers make a mistake. To prevent a tragedy, you need to know exactly what it looks like white grebe and in which regions it is found.

Where is the mushroom common?

The most striking representative is the fly agaric, it belongs to this genus. It is found in moderate climatic zone Eurasian and North American continents. The mushroom grows on fertile or mixed soils, often adjacent to trees such as birches, oaks and lindens. Mostly it can be found in broad-leaved or deciduous forests, but there are cases when the grebe is found in park areas. On sandy soil and coniferous forests practically never occurs.

Description of the mushroom

To avoid mistakes when collecting edible mushrooms, you need to carefully study the description of the white toadstool:

• A small mushroom with a film coating.
• The diameter of the hat can vary from 6 to 12 cm. It has a pale green, yellowish or white tint. The color is darker towards the center of the cap. As the hat grows, it changes shape: initially it can be flat or egg-shaped, then it changes to prostrate. In a young mushroom, the surface of the cap is covered with flakes, which disappear over time.
• Underneath the cap hides white plates. Throughout the entire time they do not change their color. When palpated, they have a soft structure.
• Mushroom pulp is white. If you break it, the color will not change.
• Pale (white) grebe has a sweetish taste and pleasant aroma, but old mushroom it smells very nasty.
• The shape of the leg is cylindrical. At the very base, which is wrapped in a volva in the form of a torn bowl, it has a thickening. There is a skirt at the top of the leg. The color of the stalk is predominantly white, sometimes with a yellow or green tint.

Similarities to edible mushrooms

Mushroom pickers often confuse pale toadstool with toadstool because they are very similar in appearance. But there are still distinctive features:

• The white toadstool mushroom has a membranous tuberous thickening on the stalk (at the very base), which the russula does not have.
• The edible mushroom lacks a skirt.

Upon careful examination, you can easily notice the above differences.

Pale toadstool has certain similarities with champignon, and sometimes these mushrooms are quite difficult to distinguish from each other. The differences are not as noticeable as those of russula, but they are still there:

• The plates located under the cap of the poisonous mushroom are painted white, but those of the champignon are always brown or pink.
• If you break it, the flesh of an edible mushroom will turn red or yellowish. The toadstool's color will not change.
• Champignons have a pronounced aroma, while the poisonous mushroom has a barely perceptible aroma.
• Worms and insects avoid the toadstool, but love to feast on edible representatives of the fungal kingdom.

Young champignons cannot be distinguished from a poisonous mushroom, so it is not recommended to cut them.

Symptoms of poisoning

Pale toadstool can be considered not only poisonous, but also the most insidious mushroom. It is difficult to distinguish it from edible food by taste and smell. Even heat treatment is not able to neutralize the effect of the poison. Its concentration is so strong that in most cases it leads to severe poisoning and then death. The tricky part is that the symptoms of intoxication do not appear immediately. After a white toadstool has been eaten, it can take from 6 to 12 hours, or even more than a day, before the poison makes itself felt.

The main symptoms indicating poisoning:

• Vomiting and nausea are constant.
• The stool is loose. Has bad smell. After a while, mucus and blood are observed in it.
• The body becomes dehydrated. The person feels thirsty and the skin becomes dry.
• On the 3-4th day, false relief begins. This period can last 2-4 days.
• The patient experiences acute renal and liver failure.
• Skin color becomes yellow.
• Nosebleeds and subcutaneous hemorrhages are observed.
• Consciousness becomes twilight and loses clarity.
• The pulse is rapid, superficial. Blood pressure falls.

Medical assistance must be provided as soon as the first manifestations of poisoning occur, otherwise the person may die on the 10-12th day.

First aid

If there is a suspicion that the cause of poisoning was a pale (white) grebe, you should immediately call emergency help. Before doctors arrive, it is necessary to carry out procedures to alleviate the condition:

• If there is no nausea and vomiting, you need to rinse your stomach. The patient needs to drink a lot of water and induce vomiting by pressing on the root of the tongue.
• Give the person who has been poisoned a laxative to help the body rid itself of toxins.
• Use sorbents: Smecta, activated carbon, etc.

Until the ambulance arrives, such procedures will be sufficient.

Remember! A person only needs to eat 1/3 of a toadstool mushroom cap to receive a lethal dose of poison.

According to the description, the pale grebe is similar to other representatives of the mushroom kingdom, including edible ones. Therefore, when collecting varieties that have with it common features, it is necessary to remember the time of growth of the fruiting body and the place of its distribution.

Grows in temperate climate Eurasia and North America. It can be found in light broadleaf and deciduous forests with fertile soil, occasionally in mixed soil.

Most often, the pale toadstool is adjacent to plants such as birch, linden and oak. It occurs in park areas. It is extremely rare to find a mushroom in coniferous forests with sandy soils.

The most common cases of poisoning by this poisonous mushroom occur from July to November. This is due to the fact that it is at this time that the mycelium produces fruiting bodies.

Description of the pale grebe

Hat. The diameter of the cap of the pale toadstool is up to 14 cm. More often - up to 10 cm. Its silky skin has a greenish-olive or grayish-green color. The center of the cap is often slightly darker, while the edges are lighter. The skin is usually smooth, less often scales are visible on it, which are the remains of the bedspread. Young mushrooms have a convex cap, which becomes flat-convex or prostrate as they grow. The cap plates are white. The flesh is white, greenish under the skin. There are pale grebes of a rarer white form.

Leg. The length of the leg of the pale grebe can be up to 20 cm, thickness up to 2 cm. The color of the leg is white, greenish-yellow veins, stains or patterns are clearly visible on it. The leg is widened at the bottom. The pallid grebe has several distinctive features, helping to recognize this terrible mushroom.

Mushroom pickers should be alerted to the whitish ring in the upper part of the stem, which can be solid, torn or inconspicuous, similar to flakes. It is formed from a film covering the plates of young pale grebes. The calyx-volva, torn into three or four lobes when a young mushroom appears, should also scare away. Volva is located at the bottom of the leg (near the ground). The leg does not adhere to the Volvo, it seems that it is inserted into it. The color of the outer side of the Volva is whitish, yellowish or greenish. It seems that the sac-like cup of the Volva is prepared “for growth.”

The most dangerous mushroom in this regard is the toadstool. It is easily recognized by the whitish bulb at the end of the stalk and the disheveled whitish skirt just below the white cap with a ribbed sporangium. The poison is lethal even in tiny quantities (B.T. Chuvin “A Man in an Extreme Situation”).

Pale toadstools are moisture-loving, rainy weather they appear en masse in entire “plantations.” In the drier areas of the country, the toadstool is much less common. The mushroom often grows in deciduous and mixed forests. But this does not exclude its appearance in conifers. Especially in pine forests, where there is a lot of sphagnum moss.

The pale grebe appears from June. Its growth peak is observed from the second half of August to mid-September.

Mushroom counterparts to toadstool

If all pale grebes looked “like in the picture,” then this wouldn’t happen. large quantity people who put this poisonous mushroom in their basket, and then in the frying pan.

IN recent years There are a lot of mutant mushrooms in the forests... The pale grebe also “learned” to camouflage itself. Even experienced mushroom pickers sometimes cannot distinguish it from russula, honey mushroom or champignon (V. Zhavoronkov “The ABCs of Safety in Emergency Situations”).

• Russula is green and greenish. The green variety of white toadstool is often confused with the very common russula. The main differences: the absence of a ring on the white stem of the russula. The legs of green and greenish russula do not have scales or patterns. There is no volva at the base of the russula stem.

• Greenfinch. The plates of the greenfinch are lemon-colored, while those of the pale toadstool are white. Greenfinch is a stocky, strong mushroom. The pallid grebe is completely different.
• Float. The white-shaped pallid grebe (fortunately rarer) can easily be confused with a floater. Even experienced mushroom pickers make mistakes with these mushrooms. For beginning mushroom pickers, the white float is at risk.
• Champignon. Pale toadstool is sometimes called "false mushroom." It is more difficult to deal with young mushrooms.
• Amanita stinking(Amanita virosa), or white toadstool, which grows closer to the North, is also a deadly poisonous mushroom twin of the pale toadstool. In the Moscow region there is a lot of it in dry years. On Far East white grebe grows in spruce-fir forests. The fly agaric would not be worth remembering if there were no similarities between the pale toadstool, the stinking fly agaric and the white float.

• Amanita toadstool(Amanita mappa) also resembles a pale grebe. But it has a volvo attached to the leg and flakes of parts of the bedspread remaining on the cap. This inedible mushroom was previously considered poisonous due to the presence of the toxin bufotenin in its tissue. Amanita toadstool joins the list of mushroom counterparts to the toadstool, but does not evoke any desire to put the mushroom in the basket.

How to distinguish edible mushrooms from toadstools

To recognize a dangerous mushroom in time, you need to know some of its features:

One toadstool in a dish makes the entire batch toxic.

But there are also small benefits from these poisons:

• In homeopathic doses they can be used as an antidote to poisonous mushrooms.
• Some have learned to poison harmful insects with these poisons without harming themselves or others.
• The ability to fight wrinkles is being studied: if the skin is pale and aging, then injections with microdoses of toxins are used. But this use is controversial.
• In folk medicine, infusions of toadstool are considered as a cure for cancer. Official medicine I did not find confirmation of this, although laboratory experiments on mice gave encouraging results.

The danger of toadstool far outweighs the potential benefit. Therefore, it is better to remember what a mushroom looks like, study its photo and stay away from it.

Toadstool poisoning

Toadstool poisoning– designation of an incident in which the fruiting body of a fungus of the Pale grebe species enters the human digestive tract in an amount that is harmful to health and causes poisoning. One of the dangers for humans when eating mushrooms. It can end in the death of a person.

Causes of poisoning with toadstool

The cause of poisoning is human consumption of collected fruiting bodies of the toadstool. It occurs by mistake or as a result of intentional poisoning.

In case of intentional poisoning:

• you can become a victim of the actions of another person or group of people;
• You can become poisoned as a result of your own actions.

Pale toadstool is confused with champignon, russula, and greenfinch when picking mushrooms in the forest.

The poisons of the toadstool are not destroyed by decoction, drying, and are not digested in the gastrointestinal tract.

Picture of poisoning

Pale toadstool is a deadly poisonous mushroom, and even small quantity eaten fruiting bodies can lead to severe poisoning with fatal outcome. The poisons of the toadstool do not disappear when boiled and dried. It is characterized by a pleasant taste, which makes this mushroom indistinguishable from edible species.

8-48 hours after eating toadstool, vomiting, intestinal colic, pain, thirst, diarrhea (possibly with blood), cyanosis (whitening) of the skin and mucous membranes, decreased body temperature, and convulsions begin.

Toadstool poisoning can be classified according to severity in clinical practice into mild, moderate and severe. In case of mild poisoning, moderate gastroenteritis and mild hepatopathy (liver damage) are observed.

The average degree of poisoning is accompanied by severe gastroenteritis, toxic hepatopathy (liver damage) of moderate severity, toxic nephropathy (kidney damage) of mild or moderate severity.

Severe poisoning is accompanied by severe gastroenteritis, hepatopathy, nephropathy with transition to acute liver and kidney failure.

Stages of poisoning

Poisoning by toadstool in modern times medical literature conditionally divided into periods.

The characteristics and names of the periods may differ, perhaps, for example, the following division:

1. An incubation or latent period lasting from 6 hours to a day or more, during which there are no symptoms of poisoning.
2. The period of acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the mucous membrane small intestine), accompanied by abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. Lasts 1-2 days or longer.
3. “A period of imaginary well-being” or a visible temporary improvement in the health status of the poisoned person, although there is no real improvement.
4. The period of damage to parenchymal organs. Acute renal and liver failure develops and death may occur.
5. If death does not occur, there may be a period of recovery.

Mechanism of poisoning

When poisoned by toadstool, phalloidin syndrome develops. It manifests itself in damage to the gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys. Under the influence of toadstool toxins, necrosis and fatty degeneration of the liver develop.

In 100 g fresh mushrooms contains 10 mg phalloidin, 8 mg α-amanitin. The lethal dose of α-amanitin is 0.1 mg per 1 kg of body weight. The reference books state that one mushroom or a piece of it is enough to cause death. The mortality rate for poisoning with toadstool can reach 50% or higher and depends on the dose, as well as the age of the poisoned person. Children and old people die more often from such poisonings.

Poisoning by toadstool is more common in Europe than in America. Until the mid-20th century, the mortality rate was 60–70%, but this percentage has decreased significantly with the improvement of medicine. Between 1971 and 1980, the mortality rate in Europe from toadstool poisoning was 22.4%. Subsequently, the figure dropped to 10–15%.

Toxins that cause poisoning

Science currently divides substances (toxins) poisonous to humans contained in the fruiting bodies of the toadstool into groups:

• amanitins (amatoxins, amanitotoxins)
• phalloidins (phallotoxins)
• amanin.

Amanitins act faster than phalloidins, but are less toxic.

Treatment of toadstool poisoning

Effective treatment of poisoning by toadstool is carried out in a medical hospital (hospital).

Typical medical procedures for poisoning with toadstool:

• gastric lavage;
• supply of adsorbents;
• combating dehydration;
• administration of glucocorticoids.

Conducted:

• hemosorption (blood purification).
• treatment of exotoxic shock.

Doctors use proteolytic enzymes (contrical, gordox) to slow down the metabolism of many nephro- and hepatotoxic substances, which is dangerous for the body. Lipoic acid (acidum thiocticum) is used in a daily dose of up to 300 mg. Liver therapy is being carried out.

In the world there are isolated examples of liver transplantation for the described poisoning.

Studies have shown that most survivors make a full recovery without any side effects if treatment is started less than 36 hours after taking the mushrooms. A good antidote is a decoction of milk thistle.

Cultural, historical and other interesting information

Pale toadstool is the most poisonous of our fly agarics and one of the most poisonous mushrooms in general. Statistics: if about 95% of all known fatal mushroom poisonings are caused by species of the genus Amanita, then, in turn, more than 50% of all fatal poisonings by fly agarics are caused by the toadstool. Killer mushroom No. 1, worse than a man-eating shark.

In the world, the pale grebe is quite widespread. Its homeland is Europe, from where it has penetrated into East Asia, Africa, both Americas and even Australia and New Zealand. There are many different places where toadstool grows, although it is not very common.

Mycorrhizal northern and midland European tree partners of the toadstool are oak, linden, hazel, birch, maple, elm, beech, hornbeam, and in the southern regions also chestnut. Quite rarely, but nevertheless, the toadstool is successfully able to form mycorrhiza with pine and spruce. It is noteworthy that in new places, during the process of introduction, the pale grebe finds new, previously uncharacteristic partners. For example, in coastal California, A. phalloides has invaded hemlock ( conifer) and virgin oak, in Iran - hazelnuts, in Tanzania and Algeria - eucalyptus, in New Zealand - various breeds myrtle tree.

At the end XIX century famous American mycologist Charles Peck announced the discovery European species A. phalloides in North America. However, in 1918 these samples were tested and identified by mycologist Professor Atkinson (Cornell University) as similar appearance A. brunnescens. The question of the transcontinental nature of the great grebe seemed to be closed, but in the 1970s it suddenly became clear that the undoubted European great grebe had colonized both the eastern and western North American coasts, having moved from Europe along with seedlings of the then popular chestnut trees. In general, the pale grebe, having started in Europe, took over everything Northern Hemisphere in exactly this way - together with seedlings and industrial wood. It took her about 50 years to complete all her work. Together with oak seedlings, it penetrated into Australia and South America(green dances around the grown oak trees “pleased the eye” for a long time in Melbourne and Canberra, as well as in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, until a few years later the mushrooms found new mycorrhizal partners and began to march across the continents). It has been reliably established that with pine seedlings, the toadstool “jumped” to Tanzania and South Africa, where it quickly colonized the local oaks and poplars.

Since ancient times, people have been poisoned by toadstool, both accidentally and out of malicious intent. Perhaps the earliest of known cases Poisoning with toadstool (eaten by mistake instead of Caesar's mushroom) can be considered the death of the wife and children of the great playwright of antiquity, Euripides.

History has brought to us many facts and deliberate “harassment” famous personalities poisonous mushrooms to eliminate them from the political or even religious arena. Apparently, most of them are the pale grebe. The “lucky ones” most often mentioned in this regard are the Roman Emperor Claudius and Pope Clement VII.

Video

Sources

http://grib-info.ru/yadivitie/blednaya-poganka.html

The pale grebe (Amanita phalloides) belongs to the kingdom of Mushrooms and the genus Amanita. Hidden beneath the plain exterior mortal danger: it includes toxic substances, which can lead to human death if ingested.

What does the toadstool look like and where does it grow?

This is a cap and, the fruiting body of which first has the shape of an egg, covered with a special film, and then becomes flat. The diameter of the cap is from 5 to 15 cm. It is covered with light skin of white, green, olive or gray. The pale grebe is characterized by variability: Over time, the color of the cap becomes darker, and the flesh acquires a subtle unpleasant odor. The surface of the cap is fibrous, with a smooth edge; Sometimes there are pieces of film left on it.

The height of the white leg is 8–16 cm, and the diameter is 1–2.5 cm; often it is covered with a mesh pattern. In its upper third, young grebes have a fringed ring, which later disappears. From below, the leg becomes thicker and passes into the volva - an ovoid shell 3 to 5 cm wide.

The habitat of the pale toadstool is: temperate zone Asia, Europe and North America. The mushroom is most often found in deciduous forests, less often in coniferous forests. This grebe likes proximity to birch, linden and oak trees.

Features of the pale grebe (video)

The insidious resemblance of the white toadstool to edible mushrooms can lead to disastrous consequences. To avoid poisoning, hospitalization and danger fatal outcome you need to know what outwardly similar “doubles” the poisonous Amanita phalloides has.

Greenfinch

This short mushroom, belonging to the rows, has distinctive feature: pronounced green tint cap skin and pulp, as well as lemon or greenish plates. The volva and ring, which are characteristic of the pale grebe, are absent. But the greenfinch itself, although officially called a conditionally edible mushroom, was recently suspected of being poisonous. Therefore, biologists strongly recommend refraining from consuming it in large quantities and without careful processing.

Float

Biologists classify floats as conditionally edible species. They belong to the genus Amanita and have the corresponding appearance: a brown flat or semi-ovate cap, which gives it a resemblance to a pale toadstool. But floats are much smaller than their deadly cousin, and their flesh is thinner. They also lack the ring characteristic of a toadstool; radial grooves-cracks are noticeable on the very edge of the cap.

Russula: green and greenish

These edibles are distributed throughout Europe: they can be found in almost every leafy or mixed forest. But the eyes of an inexperienced mushroom picker often confuse them with toadstools. But upon closer examination, it becomes clear: they lack a volva and a ring, and the flesh literally breaks in the hands, which is typical of all russulas.

Photo gallery

Champignon

You can confuse the toadstool with a champignon, which has a similar structure and color. But to notice the difference, you need to “look at the root”: the dangerous mushroom has a volva located near the ground. Champignons don’t have it. Besides their plates acquire a dirty gray color over time.

Use of toadstool in medicine

Although ingesting toadstool can lead to human death, this plant should be used with caution, but still used in medical research And medicinal purposes:

1. The substances that make up the mushroom are used in minimal concentrations by homeopathic doctors (alternative medicine).
2. There is information about the development of methods for treating people poisoned by toadstool, based on a special protein isolated from it. According to scientists, it will be able to neutralize the effects of toxic toxins.
3. Research by scientists from Germany has proven that amanitin, contained in, has a destructive effect not only on the human body, but also on malignant tumors some organs of the digestive tract and mammary gland. Successful tests were carried out on laboratory mice.

Perhaps scientists have yet to make discoveries about beneficial properties mushroom, but so far it is not used in official medicine.

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Description of signs of poisoning by toadstool

When fungal particles enter digestive tract, intoxication of the body begins. The liver and kidneys take the main blow: their cells are destroyed under the influence of the poison, which leads to failure of these organs. If urgent measures are not taken and the person is not sent to intensive care, a tragic outcome may be inevitable.

The first signs of poisoning with toadstool make themselves felt within 12 hours:

• abdominal pain;
• constant nausea and vomiting;
• bloody diarrhea;
• visual disturbances;
• problems with coordination, loss of strength, even loss of consciousness.

If at least one of these symptoms appears after eating mushrooms, you need to call an ambulance: delay can cost your life.

Before receiving medical care You can take the first steps:

1. Rinse the stomach with warm and boiled water, inducing vomiting after drinking 5 - 6 glasses. Repeat several times.
2. Give the victim a laxative.
3. Give an enema to flush out toxic food debris from your intestines.
4. Put the patient to bed and make sure that he does not eat anything.

It is noteworthy that after toadstool poisoning, 4–5 days after the onset of the disease, the so-called “false recovery” occurs: the patient feels much better within 1–3 days. Then his condition deteriorates sharply again.

How to distinguish edible mushrooms from toadstools

To recognize a dangerous mushroom in time, you need to know some of its features:

If there is any doubt about the edibility of the mushroom, then the most reasonable option would be to leave it in place. It is strictly forbidden to find out what a mysterious find tastes like: toxins will harm your health, even if they just get on the mucous membrane.

How to get rid of toadstool in the garden

The pale grebe does not mind being close to humans: it can often be seen in the garden in shady places, and even in an outdoor garage or other outbuilding with an earthen floor. They fight it in 3 ways:

1. Mechanical removal of mushrooms with roots.
2. Deep digging of the earth under the place of their growth.
3. Using chemicals to inhibit fungal growth. This can be Bordeaux mixture, solutions of vinegar and dishwashing liquid, table salt, copper sulfate or phytosporin. But it should be noted that they do not solve the problem once and for all: there is a high probability that the toadstools will return to their favorite place.

As a preventive measure, you need to make some changes to the arrangement of the territory:

• remove all rotten wood from the site, including rotten stumps;
• reduce soil moisture;
• mow tall grass that creates shadows;
• Constantly loosen the soil in the beds.

The most poisonous mushrooms in Russia (video)

The combination of all these methods will help achieve success in the fight against poisonous grebe.

As mushroom pickers say, it is better to return from the forest with an empty basket than to go to the hospital. Therefore, you need to be attentive to every find. This will save you from serious problems with health.