Mushrooms are twins. Learning to distinguish between edible mushrooms and inedible counterparts Poisonous counterparts of edible mushrooms

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It just so happens that humanity loves “quiet hunting” for mushrooms. In our latitudes they appear in mid-summer and delight us until the end of autumn. But not all mushrooms can be eaten. Some are generally poisonous and cause serious consequences, and even death. To avoid accidents, you need to know the main differences between regular and false mushrooms.

All wild mushrooms are divided into: edible, conditionally edible (or inedible) and poisonous

• Edible mushrooms are used in culinary recipes cuisines around the world and add their own flavor to each dish.
• Conditionally edible mushrooms, after prolonged heat treatment, will not cause harm to health. These include milk mushrooms, morels and autumn honey mushrooms. They should be cooked for at least 40 minutes and then rinsed well.
• Poisonous are gall mushroom or bitter, devil's or satanic mushroom, false puffball and others.

Very often, when hunting for mushrooms, we come across those that mislead us. Therefore it is vital to know distinctive features edible and especially poisonous mushrooms.

Pear-shaped, hedgehog or hedgehog-spiny puffball and its double, false puffball

The body of the mushroom is pear-shaped, which is why it got one of its names. The “pseudo leg” is clearly defined, but sometimes it is hidden under the moss, making the mushroom appear round.

A young raincoat is almost white, but over time it undergoes a certain metamorphosis, and it changes color to dirty brown. The surface is covered with ring-shaped dense spines. A large spike sticks out in the center of each ring, and small needles on its sides. If you step on a ripe puffball, it will burst into a “smoke” of spores.

The correct raincoat is hard to the touch, and when cut open it is white as milk.

The pear-shaped puffball is considered edible only until its flesh begins to darken.

IN medieval Europe Broths were made from raincoats for sick people. Already at that time their enormous benefits for the body were known.

False raincoat

Instead of thorns, it is covered with warts, has an elongated fruiting body and a nasty smell. The mushroom is conditionally edible and can even be dangerous if eaten in large quantities.

White mushroom and its doubles

The porcini mushroom is exquisite, fleshy, with an exquisite taste; finding such a mushroom is a real success for lovers of quiet hunting. It is extremely rich in useful elements, and it is very rare to find it. It has a brownish head, the color of which varies from light hazel to dark brown. After rain it is quite slippery, but in dry weather it is dry and velvety.

Small specimens are almost round, with a cap that is rolled up at the edges; as they grow older, it opens up and becomes almost flat. Compared to the head, the leg is powerful, fleshy, barrel-shaped with a convexity in the middle. The color of the leg is almost white or pale brown, the surface of the mesh structure is beige. The pulp is white, tight and elastic, but with age it acquires a slightly spongy structure. After cutting, the color remains the same.

Gall mushroom

At first glance, it is quite difficult, almost impossible, to immediately understand that it was the bitterweed that got into the basket. It is very reminiscent of the correct porcini mushroom. But a thin mesh on a dark-colored stalk and a spongy cap on the underside indicate an erroneous mushroom. Its flesh also quickly turns red at the break, and the cap has a pinkish tint.

The cap is spongy with a thin layer of porous pulp.

Biologists consider the gall fungus to be inedible. If you lick it, bitterness immediately appears, and heat treatment only intensifies it. But in a vinegar marinade, the bitterness is partially masked by vinegar, and if you soak it in water for a long time, it will disappear completely. Therefore, some mushroom pickers do not exclude this mushroom from their diet.

This false boletus stands out for its truly colossal size: its cap can reach 40 cm, and its leg - 15 cm. It looks so elegant and festive, it is unlikely that anyone will confuse it with a porcini mushroom.

A distinctive feature is a hat with a top that looks like a pillow. Under the cap there is a dense sponge of a light pink color. The surface of the mushroom is slightly rough to the touch.

The main sign is that after cutting the stem, you can observe first a blue and then a bright red color. Satanic mushroom smells like a rotten onion. Unfortunately, only adult specimens have this feature, and the young mushroom does not smell at all, which leads to confusion. 10 g of raw false boletus is enough, after which a person can experience complete paralysis of the nervous system.

Real honey fungus and its doubles

The real honey fungus is growing large families on stumps and rhizomes of trees. The cap is round, light brown, with small copper scales. In older mushrooms it is light, but over time it becomes brownish.

The stem of the mushroom is thin, flexible, elongated, hollow inside and “dressed up” in a ring-skirt. The pulp is soft, moist, pale beige in color, pleasant to the taste, with a distinct aroma of wood.

Sulfur-yellow false honey fungus

It is similar to the edible one, but smaller in size. The leg is thinner and does not have a film under the head. The head is round and flat, grayish-yellow, slightly darker in the center. If you break it, you can see blue juice that smells and tastes bad. Sulfur yellow false scent poisonous, not lethal. However, the outcome is also unpleasant: taking it causes a spasm and not fatal, but still poisoning.

These representatives of the fungal fauna have a fleshy, brick-red, poisonous-brown or yellow-brown cap. You can see nice white flakes on its edges. The leg is long and thin, there is no dense ring of film on it. The base of the leg is dirty brown, it is tight, straight or narrowed towards the bottom.

Boletus and their doubles

With these mushrooms everything is much simpler; it is very difficult to confuse them. The color of the oiler head can range from chestnut to bluish-green or yellow-brown. Not an old mushroom looks like a ball crawling out of the ground. The sticky, slippery skin peels away from the flesh well.

The stem is slightly lighter than the cap, often with a dirty tint. It can be solid or fibrous and cylindrical. The pulp is fresh, brown at the root and light yellow near the cap, brown just under the cap. Butterflies are often attacked by worms and other pests.

Pepper mushroom is very poisonous. The poison settles in the liver and destroys it, causing mutations. Subsequently, cirrhosis and cancer may develop. To avoid this, you need to carefully look at the mushrooms that you put in the basket.

The pepper mushroom has a sponge-like head and a thick skin with a sticky surface. When the mushroom is still young, its cap has a copper tint; when mature, it is repainted into a rich rust color.

If you press down on a pepper mushroom, it will change color and release a red liquid. Bright yellow flesh with gray tint, after cutting it becomes scarlet.

Champignons and their doubles

Champignon is the most common mushroom in the world. It can grow like natural environment, and mushroom farms, in basements or garages. Representatives of these fungi are often found on heaps of manure, since rich, fertilized soil is exactly what these fungi love.

The champignon has a tight cap with small scales. At first it is round, and as it grows it straightens and can reach up to 10 cm. The color of the head, depending on the type, is white, brown or beige.

The pulp is firm, very aromatic, white, slightly yellowish or reddish. The leg is straight, tight, with one or two rings.

Death cap

Champignons have doubles that pose a great danger to humans. First of all, it is the pale toadstool and the stinking fly agaric. Young individuals are very similar to an edible mushroom.

The toadstool has the same cap and has rings and scales on the stalk, but the toadstool has root sacs inserted into the stalk. However, over time, the plates do not change color and remain the same. The cut area first becomes bright yellow, and over time it becomes completely lemon-colored. Smells like iodine or carbolic acid. If you place it in hot water- it takes on an orange tint.

Although this is a representative of the mushroom fauna and has a snow-white cap of a regular shape, its appearance is quite repulsive due to the abundant mucus, which sometimes even drips from the edges of the mushroom.

The head looks a bit like a cone. There are always a lot of insects on the cap, attracted by the shiny mucus. The cap is attached to a long and very thin stem, around which there is a ring of small scales.

The bottom of the cap contains dense plates with spores, which, spreading in the air, can cause an attack of suffocation. If you break the mushroom, you can see white, dense pulp with a very unpleasant smell.

The mushroom is definitely inedible and can lead to intoxication even with the slightest amount.

Chanterelles and their doubles

A real fox lives in friendship with pine, spruce, oak or beech. Her hat and leg have fused into a single body and have no dividing boundary. The color varies from brick to pale yellow. The edge of the head is wavy and irregular shape. Its surface is silky, and the skin is almost inseparable from the pulp. The firm pulp with a slightly sour taste and the smell of dried roots has won the hearts of more than one mushroom picker.

False chanterelle or orange "talker"

Features a bright golden or orange color hat. The “double” has a brighter color and looks like a funnel or an inverted umbrella. The edges of the head are smooth, whereas, like a regular chanterelle, they are wavy and bumpy. The false chanterelle's leg is thinner and tapered towards the bottom. The flesh of the “twin” is lemon or brick-colored and smells very bad. Inner side the heads taste bitter. If you don't press it down, the color won't change. . The main distinguishing feature is that false chanterelles are attacked by worms.

Important! Collect only those mushrooms in the basket that you have no doubt about. Do not take overripe, worm-damaged or flabby mushrooms; they do not provide any benefit.

The most exciting activity is mushroom picking. But success in this unique sport depends on the ability to distinguish mushrooms, find places where they grow, and know when and how they grow.

Mushrooms bear fruit from spring to late autumn, but unevenly, but in waves, or, as they also say, in layers, when short period many fruiting bodies grow. There are three or four such layers in total.

May - first month mushroom calendar. At this time, snowdrop mushrooms appear - morels and stitches. There is a sign - if a lot of morels are born in the spring, wait in the summer big harvest other mushrooms.

Morel and stitch

They are found mainly in pine forests, especially in clearings, in places of fires, fires, sandy soil.

These mushrooms are edible, but contain poisonous helvella acid. Therefore, it is best to dry them, and the poison is completely destroyed after a month.

Mushrooms cooked after drying are considered a delicacy and are not inferior in taste and aroma to porcini mushrooms.

At the end of May - beginning of June, the first layer of mushrooms appears. They are often called spikelets, as they are the same age as the rye spike. These are boletuses, boletuses, and even white ones. The second layer of mushrooms - granaries - appear during the harvest, during haymaking and linden flowering (June-July). The third layer - deciduous - occurs after the departure of swifts and cuckoos, when nuts and lingonberries ripen. It is the most productive, the longest, from half of August, all of September, and in warm autumn- until mid-October. At this time, chanterelles, moss mushrooms, boletus, saffron milk caps, honey mushrooms, and green mushrooms appear.

Boletus (birch cap, black mushroom)

Found only in birch or mixed with birch forests from May to October. Moisture-loving. The mushroom grows very quickly and quickly becomes soft and flabby. After boletus mushrooms, this is the most delicious of the tubular mushrooms.

Boletus (white mushroom)

Grows in old pine, spruce, birch and oak trees wide deciduous forests from May to October. The tubular layer at the bottom of the cap is finely porous, at first white, later yellow-green. The leg is white with a white mesh pattern. The pulp is strong, white, does not change color when broken, tastes slightly sweet, with an appetizing smell of lightly toasted nuts.

Mosswort (underframe, goat lips)

It is found in coniferous and deciduous forests near roads, in moss, and on the edges. It usually grows solitarily from June to November. The tubular layer at the bottom of the cap has large, uneven, angular pores, bright yellow in young ones, greenish-yellow in old ones.

Oiler

It grows in groups mainly in young pine trees, on forest edges, near roads, and in new plantings from May to October. The bottom of the cap of a young mushroom is covered with a white “veil”, which will then tear, and the rest of it in the form of a ring will remain on the stem of the mushroom.

Boletus (redhead, boletus)

Found throughout the forest zone in dry mixed forests, under young trees and in deciduous small forests, abundantly in aspen shoots. It grows from June until the end of leaf fall, until frost.

The fox is real

The cap is bright yellow, for which the mushroom received its name, at first convex with rolled edges, then funnel-shaped with strongly wavy edges. It is found abundantly in all forests, especially in damp summers. They grow in large families in the first half of summer and autumn.

In good years, you can pick mushrooms every day in the same place. Therefore, the mushroom picker must take care of the safety of the mycelium. In most cap mushrooms, the mycelium is perennial and lives for 15-25 years. It is very well adapted to various environmental changes and can tolerate severe frosts and drought without harm. In order not to damage the mycelium, it is recommended to cut off the stem of the mushroom with a sharp knife, and not tear it out of the ground, as some would-be mushroom pickers do. It’s even worse when the soil is picked and trampled. Old spore-bearing mushrooms should not be thrown onto the ground, where they will rot uselessly, but rather carefully strung on a branch or branch of a bush so that the spores dry and disperse. Once ripe, the spores fall off and are carried everywhere by wind, water, insects and animals.

We wish you success, mushroom pickers!

Attention! Among our wild mushrooms there are not only edible, but also poisonous. At first glance, some poisonous mushrooms look very similar to edible ones. These doubles should be especially feared. That is why, when going for mushrooms, you must remember the main differences between good edible mushrooms and their poisonous counterparts.

Gall fungus (false white)

This inedible mushroom at a young age is very similar to a porcini mushroom. The main differences from the boletus are: a dark mesh pattern on the stem, a dirty pink bottom of the cap, the flesh turns pink at the break, and the taste is bitter (just lick the bottom of the cap).

Death cap

This is the most poisonous, deadly mushroom. Rarely found in deciduous forests on the edges and clearings.

Pepper mushroom (lamb)

Externally, the mushroom is similar to an oil can, but smaller. A tubular layer with large uneven pores and a yellowish-red tint, bitter pulp.

fly agaric

Very poisonous mushroom. It is found often, in some places very abundantly, in birch and mixed forests.

False chanterelle

Unlike the edible chanterelle, which has curved and corrugated edges of the cap, the false one has a funnel-shaped cap with a smooth edge. The color of a real chanterelle is bright yellow, while the false one is red-orange.

Russula is pungent and pungent

The mushroom cap has red and pink shades, the stem is white and smooth. This russula differs from food russula in that it tastes bitter and burning (if you lick the cut of the stem).

Very often, poisonous mushrooms are similar to edible mushrooms collected in the forests of the Primorsky Territory, and an inexperienced mushroom picker can easily confuse them. In some cases, the similarity between double mushrooms is quite small, but sometimes the mushrooms are so similar that even a mushroom picker with extensive experience can make a mistake when identifying mushrooms. Such mushrooms are called twin mushrooms.
There are many known types of look-alike mushrooms, and it is especially dangerous that edible lookalikes Many deadly poisonous mushrooms have it. This is what often leads to fatal mistakes when picking mushrooms and is one of the most common causes of mushroom poisoning.
In this section we provide examples with illustrations of mushrooms that are similar to each other and dangerous due to their similarity.

For example, a mushroom like Chanterelle has its poisonous counterpart, the fake Chanterelle. Edible chanterelle the whole thing is painted a uniform egg-yellow color, and the lower part of the cap of the fake one is brighter than top part and leg. The edge of the cap of the false chanterelle is very smooth, while that of the real one is wavy.

The porcini mushroom has two inedible counterparts - the gall mushroom and the devil's mushroom. By appearance they are difficult to distinguish, but if the mushroom is broken, then the boletus pulp remains at the break White color, and the flesh of the gall mushroom quickly turns pink, the damn mushroom first turns red and then turns blue. The leg of the boletus mushroom is dense, speckled with white veins, while that of the devil's mushroom is very swollen at the base, with a reddish mesh at the top.
The mushroom called Satanic in reference books is confused with or mistakenly called the devil's mushroom.

Honey mushrooms also have doubles. Well-known poisonous relatives of honey mushrooms are Sulfur Yellow and Brick Red. Both real and fake honey mushrooms grow in groups on old stumps and tree roots. False (Unreal) honey fungus is similar to the edible one, but is smaller, thinner and does not have a film. The hat of a real honey mushroom is copper-colored, with small brown scales, while the hat of a fake one is gray-yellow, with a reddish center. The plates of a real honey mushroom are first light and then brown, while those of a fake honey mushroom are greenish-gray in color. The pulp of the fake honey mushroom has a bitter taste.

What to do if you are poisoned by mushrooms.
Doctors' advice. If poisoning occurs, remember! Drinking plenty of fluids and gastric lavage immediately after symptoms of poisoning appear will help you cope with the problem before the doctor arrives.
No pills, much less alcohol! You can afford to drink Activated carbon adsorbing harmful substances and as much liquid as possible.
When poisoned with neurotoxins, the patient develops signs of damage to the nervous system - intermittent breathing, convulsions, tremors and loss of orientation in space. Drinking, rest and a doctor are all you can do in this case.

Depending on the type of mushroom, the appearance of signs of poisoning can occur either in a matter of minutes (20-30) or in hours (up to eight hours). Cases have been described in which poisoning manifested itself in a person almost two days after eating mushrooms.
What happens during poisoning - after a while you feel pain or discomfort in the abdomen, it may be bloating or gas, then weakness appears throughout the body, dizziness and nausea, sweat appears on the palms, chills begin to strike, the skin usually turns pale due to the outflow of blood, breathing becomes difficult, thoughts are confused.

You can't hesitate! At the first signs, you should immediately seek medical help.
Try to calm down and induce a vomiting reaction (you can stick your fingers deep into your throat). If you have water and soda or potassium permanganate on hand (you can also table salt) do weak solution and drink as much as possible (to the point of nausea). Try to regurgitate all the contents of your stomach.
Under no circumstances take antipyretic, sedative or painkillers, much less alcohol, this can only worsen the situation and, in case of dung beetle poisoning, even kill.
While waiting for the doctor, try to empty your stomach as much as possible; if you cannot induce vomiting, try using an enema.
Do not make sudden movements, do not massage the stomach, the most you can do is to provide the patient with peace and not a hot heating pad or wrap him in a blanket or blanket.
As a rule, upon admission of patients with mushroom poisoning, doctors prescribe a course of general strengthening, stimulating and neutralizing drugs that neutralize the effect of neuroleptics. The course of treatment, depending on the intoxication, can range from a week to a month and a half.
In especially severe cases it is used intensive therapy with complete cleansing with drugs that neutralize toxins in the blood and restore liver and kidney function.
For home prevention after recovery, glycine and honey are used to improve brain activity and help restore heart function.

This search service created based on the author’s own impressions, who was trying to understand the mushrooms growing in the Southern Primorye region.
Using books and websites devoted to mushrooms, I have more than once come across inconsistencies in the description and determination of the edible suitability of many mushrooms that I came across on forest hikes. Many directories contain not only controversial facts about non-edible mushrooms, but also false information about edible ones. I sent a number of such comments to the authors of resources about mushrooms, but so far there has been no reaction.
I am not a professional mushroom picker, but I often need knowledge about the edibility of a particular mushroom. Of course, it is unrealistic to remember all the species, their names, and, especially, the Latin abbreviation of the mushrooms of the Far East, but I managed to concentrate on what the mushroom looks like, whether it is suitable for food or not.

If you desperately need more extensive knowledge about mushrooms, use the electronic encyclopedia or scientific works from the library. There are very good book“Edible Mushrooms of the Far East” which, in my opinion, although there are a number of inaccuracies and errors, contains extensive information about the spores, mycelium and taxonomy of the mushroom world.
My goal was not to refute other people’s theories or to create something new in the systematization of mushrooms. Here there is only an “operational assistant to the mushroom picker”, which allows you to look “on the go” and determine by appearance whether these mushrooms are worth taking or not.

The service is designed in such a way that it will be easy for you, using the network and phone, to scroll through pictures of mushrooms and, by comparison, determine their suitability for food or preparation.
Look at the mushroom, think about which of the classifier’s pictures the mushroom reminds you of and go to the section for comparing images with your find.
Having selected a conditional category or using the full catalog with pictures and photographs of mushrooms, simply scroll through the images until you see a mushroom similar to the one you are looking for. One of the inscriptions - tasty, edible, conditionally edible, inedible, poisonous - will tell you whether you should take this mushroom or not.
In addition, the site contains more detailed information O taste qualities, methods of preparing and storing the mushrooms you collected. The most famous recipes dishes with mushrooms, rare dishes and pickles. Useful, although not edible, mushrooms are described in the form of traditional medicine recipes, and non-standard methods of using poisonous and hallucinogenic mushrooms are described in a closed section that not everyone is destined to get into - at the entrance to the section you will have to pass a small test for the adequacy of information perception.

I love collecting, cooking and eating mushrooms, treating friends and telling stories about mushroom pickers and forest wanderings.
I wish you a successful “quiet hunt” and bon appetit!

Summer has come. These are bright June days. On such a bright day you will walk into the refreshing shade of the forest, and the pungent, slightly sweet smell of mushrooms with unique shades will literally envelop you. Where is he from? After all, there are still few mushrooms in the June forest. The beneficial smell comes from the mycelium, penetrating forest floor, rotting stumps, fallen tree trunks, branches and the soil itself. The forest is warm and damp; thanks to the abundance of heat and moisture, the mycelium grows especially intensively and gains strength. But for mushroom pickers and June - good time. There’s something golden on an old birch stump: a lot of bright yellow mushrooms have covered it like a hat. These are summer mushrooms. I found two or three such stumps - and the basket was full. Honey mushrooms are one of the first summer mushrooms. Yes, this is not surprising. The wood of stumps and fallen trunks warms up faster than the soil, and retains spring moisture for quite a long time - and mushrooms appear and grow on it. But take a closer look. Among the yellow-golden caps of the summer honey fungus, as if saturated with water, flashed an even brighter cap, but not golden, but with a reddish tint, a cautiously poisonous sulfur-yellow honey fungus.

Summer honey fungus

An expert on Russian nature S. T. Aksakov wrote about such dangerous twin mushrooms: “It is noteworthy that many breeds of edible and good mushrooms, as they are sometimes called, have, as it were, accompanying mushrooms grebes, somewhat similar to them in formation and color.” Poisons false mushrooms and cause very serious poisoning. Summer honey fungus, sulfur-yellow false honey fungus, often grow on the same stumps. The main difference is the records. In the summer mushroom they are yellow-brown, and when the mushroom is completely ripe they are brown.

Gray-yellow false honey fungus

The sulfur-yellow false honey fungus is first greenish, then yellow-green, the color of sulfur, and when the mushroom gets old, it turns lilac-brown. The autumn honey fungus, whose reign is in September, and the winter honey mushroom, which replaces it in October-November, also have twins. The yellowish-brown caps of these edible mushrooms often acquire a reddish tint, and then they are easily confused with the brick-red false mushroom that appears at the same time. Mushrooms can again be distinguished by their plates.

Autumn honey fungus

In edible autumn and winter honey mushrooms, even in overripe ones, they are always light white, creamy, yellowish. In the brick-red false mushroom, at first they are also light, whitish, but as the mushrooms ripen, they quickly become lilac-brown or even black-olive. AND edible honey mushrooms and false honey mushrooms usually grow in large groups, in each such group you can always find a mature mushroom with clearly colored plates.

Brown-red false honey fungus

Along the edges of vegetable gardens, on pastures, on the manured soil of gardens and parks, champignons appear in June - common and field. In our middle lane Their poisonous counterparts have not yet grown - the pale toadstool and some fly agarics. In June, champignons can be safely collected. But from July onwards, the field champignon, which grows at the edge of the forest, as well as the forest champignon can easily be confused with the toadstool - one of the most dangerous mushrooms. There is no antidote for the poison of the toadstool yet.

The ominous glory of the toadstool as a deadly poisonous mushroom has been known for a long time.

Common champignon

From the times of Ancient Rome, a legend has come down to us that the Roman Emperor Claudius was poisoned with toadstool. The emperor liked the delicate taste of toadstool so much that he managed to issue a decree that only this mushroom should be served at his table. Claudius was probably the only person, who talked about the taste of pale toadstool. Its poisons - phalloidin, falloin and amanitin - are especially insidious. They act slowly. The first signs of poisoning appear only after six to twelve hours, and sometimes even after a day, when the poisons have already penetrated into the blood and managed to affect all the most important organs: hematopoietic, digestive, nervous system, and when it is no longer possible to help the victim. That is why it is so important to know well all the signs of this mushroom. The pale grebe belongs to the family of poisonous fly agarics. Panther, toadstool and stinking fly agarics appear at the same time. With its greyish-green and whitish-yellowish cap and ring on the stem, this poisonous family resembles edible champignons. But the color of the plates gives them away. Their plates are always white or slightly creamy, while those of champignons are first whitish or dirty pink, and then dark brown or even black-brown from maturing dark-colored spores. In addition, the base of the leg of the fly agaric and pale toadstool is swollen, and there is a collar of large scales or warts on it. Poisonous fly agarics - toadstool-like and stinking - can also be confused with russula, which has a greenish or grayish cap, since the plates of russula and fly agarics are always white. You can confuse the fly agaric with the edible greenfly. Here, in order not to make a mistake, you need to carefully examine the stem of the mushroom. A fly agaric must have a ring on it, or at least traces of it, and a thickening at the base. The legs of russula and greenfinch are without a ring, slender, smooth. We have another good edible mushroom growing here, the float mushroom, which is similar to fly agarics. It appears in July - August in clearings in a variety of forests. Like many fly agarics, the base of the float's leg is thickened, but there is no ring on it. The color of the cap is very different: from white to yellow-brown or saffron.

There is one exception among this genus of fly agaric mushrooms hostile to humans. In the southern regions of our country and in the Carpathians, Caesar mushroom is occasionally found. In the countries of Central and Western Europe there is a lot of it. On the streets of Sofia on Sunday. On an August evening you can see townspeople returning from the forests. Mesh bags and transparent bags are full of mushrooms that make you shiver just by looking at them! Bright red-orange “fly agarics” stick out from there, with a thickened stem, but without white scales on the cap. This is the famous royal, or Caesar, mushroom, which was served in Ancient Rome only to the table of the emperor and the most noble patricians.

Death cap

In August, when there are quite a lot of porcini mushrooms, gall fungus, or false white mushroom, is often found. It is bitter, but is not considered poisonous in literature. However, gall fungus that gets into a roast of porcini mushrooms can cause serious poisoning. This white double grows in pine trees spruce forests, advantage on sandy soil, is common. It is very similar to white in its shape and brown or brownish cap. But it is given away by the dirty pink color of the tubes, as well as by the pinkish flesh at the break. The porcini mushroom is called that because both its pulp and tubes are white. Only with age do the tubes turn slightly yellow or green. There is another difference - a mesh pattern on the leg. U porcini mushroom it is white, while in the gall one it is black-brown, clearly visible on a light stalk. Gall fungus usually accompanies all white September. IN Lately Mushroom pickers fell in love with young raincoats. And for good reason! These mushrooms are surprisingly aromatic, although their flesh is less tender. Puffballs are edible as long as they are pure white inside and out. With age, as they mature, their insides darken, turning into powdered brown spores. Their counterparts - false puffballs - are easy to distinguish. Even when young, they are purple-black with white streaks inside and quite tough. Collect mushrooms with caution and only those you know well. It doesn't matter if your cart contains less mushrooms. It will be a disaster if even one poisonous one gets there.

Origin of mushrooms

Scientists suggest that fungi originated from primitive flagellated organisms living in water - flagellates. This happened even before the divergence of the main line of living organisms into plants and animals.

Mushrooms are the oldest inhabitants of the Earth. Geological evidence suggests that they are coeval with primary fern plants and lungfish. Fungi already existed approximately 413 million years ago during the Devonian period Paleozoic era. They "very quickly" adapted to environment and yours full development reached approximately 220-240 million years later, during the Tertiary period Cenozoic era, when a variety of mammals, birds, insects, trees, shrubs, and grasses already lived on Earth.

Along with plants and animals, mushrooms are an independent kingdom of living organisms - this is the point of view of most scientists. The nature of metabolism and the presence of chitin in cell membranes bring fungi closer to animals, however, in terms of the method of nutrition and reproduction, in terms of unlimited growth, they are more akin to plants. Solving the question - what are mushrooms - is one of the most interesting problems of mycology - the science of mushrooms.

Cap mushrooms grow in 3-6 days and die in 10-14 days. But there are also long-livers among them. These are fungi that are part of lichens that live up to 600 years. The woody fruiting bodies of polypores live on trees for 10-20 years. As for the mycelium, in most mushrooms it is perennial, as they say, in particular, “witch’s rings”.

During the period of growth of fungal fruiting bodies, the pressure of the cell contents on their membrane (turgor pressure) increases sharply. It has been established that the pressure that such elastic cells and tissues exert on neighboring cells, tissues or surrounding objects can reach seven atmospheres; this corresponds to the pressure in the tires of a 10-ton dump truck and is more than three times higher than the pressure in the tires of a Zhiguli car. . That is why you often see how mushrooms break through asphalt, cement, and even concrete or the equally hard crust of desert takyrs.

Some mushrooms

Ram - this is the name given to two edible mushrooms from the genus of tinder fungi - branched umbrella mushroom. The mushrooms are very large, up to 4-6 kilograms. They consist of numerous caps (from several dozen to two or three hundred, and sometimes thousands), sitting on one thick stem. The ram grows at the foot of the trunks of broad-leaved trees in August-September.

Blagushka is a forest champignon. It got its name from the word “good”, that is, good, edible. Unlike its relatives - champignon, lovers open spaces- meadows, pastures, steppes, honey grows in the forest and often in unusual place- on anthills! It is assumed that our ants, like tropical ones, feed on its mycelium.

Veselka is a mushroom from the group of puffballs or nutrevikas, with a strong, unpleasant smell, attracting flies that carry its spores. They also call it “stinky morel” for its folded, morel-like cap. It holds the record for growth speed - five millimeters per minute. The young, ovoid, white mushroom is edible. The mucous membrane of the young mushroom is used in folk medicine for rheumatism (“earth oil”). Grows in deciduous forests in July - September.

Oyster mushroom is a lamellar edible mushroom that grows on dead wood or weakened deciduous trees. Appears in May, hence the “spring mushroom”, “oyster mushroom”. In the Caucasus, this mushroom is called “chinariki,” probably because it grows there on the trunks of broad-leaved trees, including the eastern plane tree, or plane tree. The mushroom is successfully grown under artificial conditions from specially prepared mycelium. Can be grown on wood waste throughout the country.

Gladysh, spurge, is an edible mushroom with abundant milky juice, hence its second name. The reddish-yellow cap is very dense, fleshy, smooth, which is why the mushroom is called smooth. In salting it will not yield to saffron milk cap. Grows in deciduous and mixed forests in August - September.

Mushroom cabbage is an edible mushroom from the horned family with the taste of morels and the smell of hazelnuts. Reminds me of a loose head of cabbage. It grows on the soil in pine forests in August - September, and is very rare.

Even when collecting familiar mushrooms, there is a risk of putting a toxic specimen in the basket. After all, in addition to the usual red fly agarics or conventional toadstools, in the forest you can find poisonous or simply inedible mushrooms, very similar to edible ones. In some cases, a mistake can cost your life, so you should carefully inspect everything you put in the basket. What to pay attention to and where to expect a catch? We have made a selection of common dangerous doubles

Summer honey mushrooms - fringed galerina - sulfur-yellow false honey fungus

Summer honey fungus is probably not as popular as autumn honey mushroom, but it also has its admirers. And they should take note that this mushroom has a very dangerous double - fringed galerina. What are the differences? Firstly, the summer honey fungus bears fruit in large clumps. In turn, galerina, even if it grows in groups, usually grows together in no more than 2-3 mushrooms. Secondly, the leg: the lower part of the honey mushroom is scaly, while that of the double is fibrous. In general, honey mushrooms are larger: their cap can reach up to 6 cm in diameter, while that of the galerina is often up to 3 cm. If there is even the slightest doubt, it is better to discard the find. Galerina fringed is deadly poisonous!

Galerina bordered.

False honey fungus is sulfur-yellow.

Another double of the summer honey fungus is the sulfur-yellow false honey fungus. Unlike the edible one, this specimen does not have a ring. There are also differences in smell: an edible mushroom emits a pleasant mushroom aroma, while a false one has a more muted smell. Sulfur-yellow false honey fungus is not as poisonous as galerina fringed, but the consequences are also unpleasant: its use can cause abdominal cramps and mild poisoning.

Champignon - pale toadstool (white)

Death cap.

The key difference between a champignon and its poisonous twin is the color of the plates on the bottom of the cap. If in the pale toadstool they are always white, then in the edible mushroom they are pink, and with age they become brown. At first glance, it’s simple, but in practice, objectively determining the color, especially of a young mushroom, is not so easy: experience, lighting, and color perception are all important here. The rule is the same: if in doubt, it is better to refuse to collect small, separately growing champignons. Eating toadstool can cost your life!

Green russula - pale toadstool (greenish-gray)

Death cap.

To distinguish russula from toadstool, you need to pay attention to the stem. Firstly, in a toxic mushroom it noticeably thickens downward and has a well-defined volva - a membranous wrapper in the lower part of the stalk, which is formed as a result of the rupture of the protective sac from which the mushroom grew. In young toadstools this sac may still be intact - then there will be a tuber at the base. Secondly, the pale toadstool has a ring at the top of the leg, which you will not find on the green russula.

Real fox - false fox

The fox is false.

These mushrooms are similar only at first glance. There are several criteria. The color of the double is brighter, the mushroom is bright orange or orange with a brown tint, and the edge is always lighter than in the center. The color of the true chanterelle varies from light yellow to yellow-orange, and the cap is evenly colored. The shape of the hat also matters. The false one has smooth, neatly rounded edges, while the real one has wavy, almost always irregularly shaped edges. The plates of a real chanterelle are dense, thick, they go down the stem of the mushroom, becoming part of it. In the false one, they are thinner and more frequent; they also go down the stem of the mushroom, but do not pass into it.

A mistake in this case is unlikely to result in death: false chanterelles- not an edible mushroom, but does not cause serious poisoning. Still, you should not lose your vigilance.

White mushroom - gall mushroom (gorchak)

Gall mushroom.

In principle, it is not difficult to distinguish the double of the king of the mushroom kingdom from a real porcini mushroom. First, pay attention to the leg. The gall fungus has a pattern on it in the form of a dense brown mesh. Some types of boletus also have it, but it is thinner and always white. Secondly, the flesh of the gall fungus darkens when cut and becomes pinkish-brown. This does not happen with porcini mushrooms. Thirdly, pay attention to the tubular layer: in a young bitterling it is white, in an adult mushroom it is pinkish or dirty pink, in a boletus it is white, yellowish or greenish.

The gall mushroom is inedible, although not poisonous. The reason for inedibility is strong bitterness, which cannot be removed even with prolonged use. culinary processing. That’s why one of its names is “gorchak”.

Fairy tales for adults

There are many popular “tests” invented! For example, supposedly worms and snails do not touch toxic mushrooms. Or - milk will curdle if you throw a poisonous mushroom into it. Another fiction: onions or garlic will turn brown when cooked, and silver will turn black if poison has gotten into the pan.

Leading specialist of the mycology laboratory of the Institute of Experimental Botany named after V.F. Kuprevich National Academy Science Olga Gapienko emphasizes: “There are no typical signs of mushroom toxicity! Take even the smell and taste. A classic example: the toadstool smells good and tastes sweet. And the funnel smells bad, but it is non-poisonous. So there are no methods, there is only knowledge of mushrooms.”

Smartphone to the rescue

What apps will be useful to you?

This program is essentially a convenient automated reference book. All mushrooms are divided into 6 categories: edible - known, little-known and conditionally edible, inedible - little-known and poisonous plus with unknown properties. For each mushroom - photo and detailed description. How will such a program help? For example, you found a mushroom - by all appearances it appears to be white, but the color of the cap is unusual. Go to the application, and here there are 6 types. You choose the most suitable one from the photo and compare the information with what you see in front of you: do all the signs match? If nothing is in doubt, feel free to put the mushroom in the basket.

EcoGuide: mushrooms

The application consists of three parts: an encyclopedia atlas, a textbook and, most interestingly, a mushroom identification guide. Let's take a closer look at the latter. The program allows you to find out what kind of mushroom you are holding in your hands. To do this, you need to introduce a number of external morphological features- form fruiting body, parameters of the cap, legs, and so on, 22 points in total. One of the obvious advantages of the application is that you can work with it without an Internet connection. The downside, however, is justified - the program is paid. IN Google Market it costs $3.99.

I'm going home

The application has nothing directly to do with searching for mushrooms, but it will help you get out of the forest if silent hunt got carried away and you don’t know how to get back. To do this, you need to open the program at home, turn on GPS and wait until the application receives the coordinates of your location. Save this data, after which you can close the program and even turn off the phone. When you decide to return home from the forest, open the application and click the “Going home” button. With the help of voice prompts, the program will take you to the desired point. But keep in mind: it does not see the terrain and forms the shortest route without taking into account obstacles. So it’s better to use this option as a backup - in case you can’t get a connection and use online navigators.