Mushrooms

First Death Cap Siting in Vancouver

The Death Cap mushroom (Amanita phalliodes) rose from the ground under hazelnut trees near the historic Stewart Farm in south Surrey this year, its first appearance in greater Vancouver, British Columbia. This highly poisonous mushroom is growing underground strands at the roots of imported hardwood trees.

Besides the spot near Surrey’s Stewart Farm, the mushroom has been discovered in two places in the Fraser Valley: in 2002 under hazelnut trees in Mission, about 70 kilometres east of Vancouver; and in 1997 in a grove of old sweet chestnut trees in Chilliwack. It also appears under various trees in Victoria, such as the beech trees at Government House, the hornbeam trees bordering a Victoria parking lot, and the trees in the Uplands neighborhood.

On the West Coast of North America, this mushroom was initially found in California, likely imported with cork or oak tree seedlings. It has since popped up at various locations north. Primarily a European species, there is no evidence to date that the Death Cap is native to North America (although there’s some debate about this). Ecologically, it is a beneficial mycorrhizal fungus. It lives on the roots of live trees, providing phosphorus, magnesium, and other nutrients to the tree in exchange for carbohydrates.

But, this mushroom isn’t that nice to homo sapiens, as it causes up to 90 percent of mushroom deaths worldwide. Half a mushroom cap can kill a healthy adult human. It attacks the liver and kidneys, leading to liver transplants or slow death. Anyone who mistakenly eats a Death Cap will not feel any symptoms for about 10 to 14 hours. Then the person will experience vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps. After awhile, these symptoms will go away and the person may feel fine. But three or four days after eating the mushroom, the person will begin to experience kidney or liver failure. Death will occur within five to ten days after eating the Death Cap.

Paul Kroeger, a board member of the Vancouver Mycological Society, identified the South Surrey Death Cap mushrooms when club members brought them in for identification at the Society’s show on 21 October at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.

The Death Cap can be easily diagnosed as such (From David Fisher’s American Mushrooms site):

The cap is 2¼–6″ (6–16 cm) wide, smooth, with greenish to yellowish pigments, usually sticky or slippery but sometimes dry, often adorned with one to several patches of thin white veil tissue. The gills are white, crowded together, and very finely attached to the upper stalk. In young specimens, a white, membranous partial veil tissue extends from the edge of the cap to the upper stalk, covering the gills (later remaining attached to and draping from the upper stalk). The spore print is white. The stalk is white to pallid, up to 6″ (15 cm) long or tall, with a large rounded bulb at the base; the bulb includes a white sac-like volva (see the two photos on this webpage). THE BASE OF THE STALK AND THE TELL-TALE VOLVA ARE OFTEN BURIED IN THE SOIL.

Read more about this beneficial yet deadly mushroom and its appearance in Surrey at Globeandmail.com.