FOLLOW THE SCIENCE
A story of a lethal mushroom
My good friend Domi passed a few weeks ago. We spent much quality time together, and one of the activities we shared was mushroom hunting. This is a homage to him:
My friend Domi died a few weeks ago in France. He taught me everything I know about mushrooms. We spent hours scouring the Msila Forest near Oran in Algeria picking Ceps, Chantrels and Lactarius deliciosus. Again together we later emptied the forests of central Finland of what they offered: Ceps and boletus, chantrels and lacterius. We also encountered the deadly amanita virosa, phalloid etc. But the most striking one was the webcap or cortinarius rubellus. When we learnt of its deadly nature in our Atlas des Champignons, we rebaptised it “le champigon des quinze jours”, the fifteen-day mushroom.When we were in the Queyras in France, we discovered other types, including the petits gris. This story is dedicated to his memory. It is also a lesson to people who claim to follow the science and draw hasty conclusions on insufficient evidence, sometimes leading to the death of a quarter of a million of their citizens.
In a dark forest lived a witch. In modern parlance she would be called a scientist today. The forest abounded in berries and fungi, and like everybody else she knew that many of them were lethal, which meant that they left these potential sources of nourishment well alone. As she had a scientific mind, she thought that it was a pity that what might be excellent and healthy food was being allowed to rot away, and that something should be done to remedy this sad state of affairs. She therefore became the first experimental scientist the world had ever known. She was going to test every single product to determine whether they were safe to it. But being crafty (and devious), she was not going to test them on herself or her family. She hit upon the idea of welcoming hapless wayfarers in her abode, receiving them with great generosity, giving them plenty of mead to drink, and feeding them. She remembered very well the stew she made for her first guest. She had thought that the fungus now known as the amanita virosa looked too pretty to be harmful, and had put a handful in a wood-pigeon broth. It looked very appetising and gave out a seductive aroma. The guest indulged and was encouraged to have second and third helpings. She had provided him with a warm bed, and the fellow was soon snoring blissfully. But in the middle of the night, he woke up with stomach cramps, and within half an hour he had died a painful death. The witch was very sad, and dragged the dead body towards the area called The Rocks, where crags and chasms abounded and with a heavy heart and a prayer she tipped the dead body in one of them. She then sat down and composed a few lines for the minstrel so he could pass on the knowledge to future generations.
Though
White as snow
this fungus
ain’t a fun guy
Eat it at your peril
for you’ll fall ill
and surely die
Am Anita
The last line gave rise to the best known misnomer in the history of science. She was called Anita and had only meant this as a sort of signature, but later generations took it to mean that the mushroom was called Amanita.
She worked assiduously and obtained excellent results. She was able to determine which berries were good to eat and which had to be avoided, and duly composed relevant lines. (The blue berries/smaller than cherries/with more sugar/ and more flavour) . She pointed out to folks which ceps were good to eat and which ones were poisonous. She fine-tuned her technique and was even able, for instance, to discover that some of the pickings deemed poisonous at first, became perfectly comestible if boiled and the water thrown away, or dried. A striking example was the brain mushroom (now known as the gyromitra) which is deadly but not if it is dried in the sun first.
She had collected an impressive list of what to eat and what to avoid, but The Rocks had swallowed a few dozen bodies, casualties of science. No one regretted this more than she did.
One day she fell upon a small cluster of webcaps (Cortinarius Rubellus). She had been told about this most beautiful of fungus, but this was the first time she had found them. They looked absolutely gorgeous, lovely reddish brown colour, smooth shiny cap, like a baby’s bum, and a pleasant if weak smell. She was tempted to bypass her usual rules and make a stew of them right away, but caution prevailed. As luck would have it, hers, but not necessarily the limping visitor’s who walked in, she decided to do what she always did: cook it with some dried hare meat and serve it to the charming guest. The aroma it spread was very seductive indeed. The visitor ate it with relish, and as he had had a long journey he wanted to have an early night. In the middle of the night the witch heard a commotion and rushed in the room where the guest was sleeping, certain that she had killed him. It was only a mouse which had crept into bed with him. They chased the mouse and peace was re-established. Next morning the wayfarer seemed as fit as squirrel and was ready to continue his sojourn, but Anita said that a day or two more of rest might do some good to his limping leg, and urged him to stay. He was happy to do so. His legs now in excellent shape, the traveller left.
Anita thought she should compose a few lines to give the webcap the all clear, but as she could not find a rhyme, she left it. Instead she made for that corner under the silver birch and was delighted to find another family of the delightful-looking webcaps. She gathered them, put them in her basket made of birch barks and sped home to prepare a stew with webcaps, with wild thyme which she happened to have picked. She thought that she would save half of it for her husband who had gone on a visit for a few days, but greed won the battle against resistance and she ate it all the same night. When her husband returned she said that she was sorry she had not kept some of the excellent webcap stew for him. He was a bit alarmed and asked her if she had not been reckless eating a mushroom whose safety was not known. She laughed and explained about the test she had carried out on her last guest.
Ten days later she had terrible pains in her belly and promptly died.
It is now known that the webcap or cortinarius rubellus can take up to fifteen days to spread its poison which damages the kidney terminally.
To avoid a fatal mishap
stay clear of the webcap
In appearance it’s quite fetching
its fragrance is bewitching
though its taste is appealing
it will leave you reeling
and will fatally damage your kidneys
altho’ it will take up to fifteen days
