> Am 15.09.2011 21:32, schrieb Orchid XP v8:
>
>>> Are lay people warned to...
>>>
>>> a) not eat self-collected fungi that have a certain well-known look, or
>>> b) not eat /any/ self-collected fungi unless they're /absolutely/ sure
>>> of what they are?
>>>
>>> Is this because...
>>>
>>> a) the toxic species of fungi are so few that they can easily be
>>> described and remembered, or
>>> b) the toxic species of fungi are too many to be easily described or
>>> remembered?
>>
>> How about
>>
>> c) Most of the toxic species have no known antidote and are usually
>> very, very fatal.
>>
>> People are also advised to drive at 30 MPH in areas where people live,
>> even if there are no people there.
>>
>> Alternatively,
>>
>> d) Most fungi actually look pretty similar to each other, and you need
>> specialist equipment to tell them apart.
>
> Note your use of the word "most" here, implying a significant number of
> toxic fungi in both cases, hence indicating that a) can be ruled out at
> any rate.
>
> That aside, AFAIK c) is not true (only few fungi must be classified as
> "very, very fatal", at least in the sense of being frequently fatal even
> with good medical care), and neither is d) (I've never heard of any
> toxic fungi that need specialist /equipment/ to distinguish them from
> any edible species of fungi; AFAIK, the most that is required is a good
> deal of attention to visual details, and of course profound knowledge
> about the similarities and differences between edible fungi and their
> toxic look-alikes).
>
>
> (Disclaimer: I Am Not A Fungi Expert, so don't rely on the above.)

Some deadly mushrooms are indeed very dificult to distinguish from 
delicious and nutritive ones. It's to the point that, in some cases, 
even peoples who regularly collect them may pick the wrong one.

That's for macro mushrooms. For micro mushrooms, or fungi, you usualy 
need to observe them in a microscope or use sepcific reactants to make 
the difference.

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