Morels, Truffles and other Spring Mushrooms
by Michael W. Beug Email: beugm@evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
Slide 69.
This Amanita species fruits in the Spring and has recently been named Amanita aprica. It looks very much like Amanita muscaria , a toxic species with the same toxins as Amanita pantherina . Amanita muscaria is the mushroom that Lewis Caroll was believed to have eaten before he wrote Alice in Wonderland. You also see Amanita muscaria frequently illustrated in children's books and in kitchen art. It is the classical toadstool. Native peoples of Siberia used it as an inebriant prior to the introduction of alcohol. It was rare and the price of two dried mushrooms could be as high as one reindeer in trade. Native peoples observed that when they made yellow snow after eating the mushrooms, their reindeer, seeking salt in the urine, would eat the patch of yellow snow and also become inebriated. This led poorer villagers to adopt the practice of eating yellow snow after someone had eaten the mushrooms. Amanita aprica probably has the same toxins as Amanita muscaria.
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