WHITTLESEA residents are warned against picking wild mushrooms because poisonous varieties look similar to edible fungi.
The warning comes as rain encourages the growth of fungi in the still-warm earth.
Victoria’s chief health officer Dr Rosemary Lester said two of the state’s most dangerous varieties were the death cap fungus or Amanita phalloides and the yellow staining mushroom, Agaricus xanthodermus.
She said the death cap was responsible for 90 per cent of mushroom poisoning deaths, which could occur within 48 hours of eating it.
This variety is usually found around deciduous trees, especially oaks. The large death cap has a cap ranging from light olive green to greenish yellow in colour. The gills are white, and the base of the stem is surrounded by a cup-shaped sac.
Dr Lester said the yellow staining mushroom, which turned yellow when the cap or stem was bruised by a thumbnail, was often mixed in with field mushrooms and could cause nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
Details: visit health.vic.gov.au/chiefhealthofficer/index.htm
