Posted on 02/07/2026 7:48:00 AM PST by BenLurkin
The California Department of Public Health is urging people to avoid mushroom foraging altogether this year because death cap mushrooms are easily confused with safe, edible varieties.
Since Nov. 18 there have been more than three dozen cases of death cap poisonings reported, including the four deaths and three liver transplants, according to the health department. Many who sought medical attention suffered from rapidly evolving acute liver injury and liver failure. Several patients required admission to an intensive care unit. They have ranged in age from 19 months to 67 years old.
The death cap is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world and is part of a small group of mushrooms containing amatoxins, which are highly potent compounds causing 90% of fatal mushroom poisonings globally. They are in city parks and in forests, often under oak trees.
In a typical year there are between two and five death cap poisonings, said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director for the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System.
“The main thing this year is just the magnitude, the number of people ingesting this mushroom,” Smollin said. “Having almost 40 is very unusual.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Every spring we hunt for morels around here and no one ever mistakes death caps for morels or vise versa.
It would be like mistaking an apple for a banana.
The cops told us they’d arrest anyone in a cow pasture after it rained.
My Brother harvested the cow pastures post rain, he called it pickin’ and grinnin’. We sometimes made milkshakes with them in them. I always took a pass, choosing instead to be sober enough to call for an ambulance. Call me a chicken, I am still proud of that catcall.
Beautiful morels!
those on trees are safe.
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There are many that grow on trees (live and dead trees) that can make you very sick or cause death.
That looks like a true morel. You’d have to cut it in half to verify.
https://www.wideopenspaces.com/learn-important-difference-real-false-morel-mushrooms/
You should go to jail for that. 😄
Excellent article-thank you!
I used to pick mushrooms with my parents in the woods of central PA back in the day - but my dad knew which ones were edible and that’s all we picked. We found a huge sheepshead mushroom once - my Slovak grandmother acted like it was a bag of gold when we gave it to her. I wouldn’t eat anything I picked now - I don’t have the knowledge.
Most of the stories I heard were about farmers with shotguns. Lol!
😂
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