(photo: Alicja)
The Death Cap Mushroom, amanita phalloides, a deadly fungus, commonly mistaken for edible mushrooms. Ingesting one death cap mushroom is enough to kill a healthy adult and there is no antidote.
All parts of the mushroom are poisonous; cooking or peeling does not make the mushroom safe to eat. There is no way to remove the poison from the mushroom. The poisonous compounds are extremely stable. You cannot remove them by soaking, cooking or drying. The poisons are found throughout the cap, gills, stem and spores.
Death by death cap typically begins with severe vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea that comes on about 6-24 hours after ingestion.
Other symptoms may occur, including but not limited to headache, dizziness and coughing. Typically, the symptoms clear up and the poisoned person feels better for a day or so.
But the poisonous amatoxins inside the mushroom are at work and 3-5 days after ingestion the person can experience liver, kidney and other organ failure, and death.