Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for May 2003
This month's fungus is Galerina autumnalis, the deadly Galerina.
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Galerina autumnalis is a deadly poisonous mushroom, rather common in our area and just about everywhere else I've looked. It can be found in relatively wet forests on very well decayed wood. Usually the wood I find it on is almost falling apart, with the substrate log lying on the ground and often covered with moss. Galerina seems to colonize the wood only in the wake of other fungi that have already partially broken it down. At least I've only seen it fruiting on such decrepit looking wood. Has anyone found it on intact wood? Galerina also seems to have a very long fruiting season and fruits multiple times each year from the same mycelium. I think I've found it in every month that we don't have snow.

Galerina autumnalis can be identified by its brown cap, with a relatively small fragile annulus (ring) on the stipe (stem). The lower part of the stipe is usually darker brown, sometimes with apparent floccules, or little tufts of hyphae. Above the annulus (the remnant of the partial veil), the stipe is usually lighter tan in color and lacks ornamentation. The gills are about the same color as the top of the stipe and darken with age. The mushrooms are usually not very big, with the caps only about an inch or two (2-5 cm) in diameter and the stipes are usually less than 2 inches (5 cm). The spore print is a rusty brown. Microscopically, the basidiospores typically have a plage, which looks to me like a slightly wrinkled plastic shrink-wrap covering over the distal end of the spore, but not the end where the spore attached to the basidium. You can often see the faint jagged line delimiting the end of the plage. Why am I telling you all these details of what this mushroom looks like? If you are planning on eating wild mushrooms, Galerina is a mushroom you must be able to identify by sight, since eating even just a little of it can be deadly.

The toxin contained in Galerina is the same toxin, a-amanitin, contained in the destroying angels, Amanita virosa, A. verna, A. bisporigera, and A. ocreata <sept97.html>. It induces exactly the same symptoms: The toxin in Galerina (and in the death angels) is a relatively small protein of eight amino acids, a cyclopeptide called a-amanitin. According to John W. Rippon, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago in Medical Mycology, a-amanitin works by slowly attacking the enzyme RNA polymerase. Although RNA polymerase occurs in all body cells, the cells of the liver are particularly affected because the body tries to sequester (and accumulate) toxins in the liver, and those cells are damaged the most. The a-amanitin ultimately affects the central nervous system and kidneys. Unlike many fungal toxins it does not cause symptoms right away. As long as 6-24 hours after ingestion there may be an early feeling of unease, followed by violent cramps and diarrhea. On the third day, there is a remission of symptoms, but this is a false remission. On the 4th to 5th day the enzymes increase, and liver and kidneys are severely affected. Death often follows if a liver transplant or other heroic measures are not performed. There is no cure for ingestion of the poison once it gets this far, but doctors are getting much better at treating the symptoms. This is *not* a mushroom you want to mess around with.


Thanks to Gen Deich for submitting this article on poisonous mushrooms that can be found in the Pacific Northwest.