Destroying angel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Destroying angel (disambiguation).
| iDestroying angel | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Secure
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Amanita virosa Lam. ex Secr. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Destroying angel is a name which is applied to a closely related and very similar group of all-white deadly toxic mushrooms; namely Amanita bisporiga and A. ocreata in the Eastern and Western United States, and A. virosa in Europe. Another very similar species, A. verna or fool's mushroom was first described in France.
Closely related to the death cap (A. phalloides) they are some of the most toxic known mushrooms. It would appear the only reason they are not responsible for more deaths is their rarity.
Contents |
[edit] Description
Destroying angels are characterized by having a white stalk and gills. The cap can be pure white, or white at the edge and yellowish, pinkish, or tan at the center. It has a partial veil (annulus), or a fleshy ring circling the stalk. Perhaps the most telltale of the features is the presence of a volva, or universal veil, so called because it is a membrane that encapsulates the entire mushroom, rather like an egg, when it is very young. This structure then breaks into various pieces when the young mushroom expands, thereby leaving parts that can be found at the base of the stalk as a boot or cuplike structure, and there may be patches of removable material on the cap surface. This combination of features, all found together in the same mushroom, is the hallmark of the family. While other families may have any one or two of these features, none have them all. The cap is usually about 5–12 cm across; the stem is usually 7.5–20 cm long and about 0.5–2 cm thick.
Young Amanita specimens look like mature button mushrooms or puffballs. One of the reasons why these mushrooms are so dangerous is because they look so similar to common edible mushrooms. Some identifying characteristics of the Amanita virosa are their white/cream colored gills and spores, gills that are attached to the cap, but not the stalk, at the part of the stalk closest to the ground there is a little cup which is a leftover piece of the veil that covers the mushroom during the button stage of growth, and finally, some Amanitas have a ring or skirt on the stalk which is another remnant of the veil.
[edit] Distribution and habitat
The Destroying angel grows in, or near the edges of, woodlands. It can be mistaken for edible fungi such as the champignon, meadow mushroom, the horse mushroom, ma'am on motorcycle, or spring coccorra. This further emphasizes the importance of slicing in half all unopened mushrooms picked when mushroom hunting.
Mushroom hunters recommend that people know how to recognize both the death cap and the destroying angel in all of their forms before collecting any white gilled mushroom for consumption.
[edit] Toxicity
The destroying angel and the death cap (Amanita phalloides) are responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths due to mushroom poisoning. The toxin responsible for this is amatoxin. Symptoms do not appear for 6 to 24 hours, when the toxins may already be absorbed and the damage (destruction of liver and kidney tissue) done. According to Intensive hemodialysis and hemoperfusion treatment of Amanita mushroom poisoning. Department of Nephrology, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden (08-1995). An effective treatment consists of, "fluid and electrolyte replacement, oral activated charcoal and lactulose, i.v. penicillin, combined hemodialysis and hemoperfusion in two 8 hour sessions, some received i.v. thioctic acid, other i.v. silibinin, all received a special diet... We have concluded that intensive combined treatment applied in these cases is effective in relieving patients with both moderate and severe amanitin poisoning."
