365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Friday, January 21, 2022
Stropharia
Day 100: Stropharia ambigua: the Stropharia about which no one is quite decided as to its edibility. The very Latin tells me all I need to know, because I recall clearly the reason that a local mycological society called their annual get-together and feast the "Survivors' Banquet." Thank you, I intend to be a survivor. Therefore, I don't eat anything even remotely questionable. Mushrooms are not something to mess around with. Many of the poisonous species contain toxins which accumulate in the liver and kidneys, with symptoms which may not appear for years. Mushroom poisoning is not limited to Homo sap. either, and mycotoxins may also be present in organ meats of ruminant species including cattle and deer, if perhaps not in sufficient quantity to cause damage to secondary consumers like humans.
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