Dan VeditzFeb 9
Adrianna Tan

I’ve been on a few mushroom forays recently. The advice is clear: if you’re in California (especially north and central coast) do not put any wild mushrooms in your mouth especially this year

We have many lookalikes that look ‘safe’. More than 40 people have been poisoned, 3-4 dead, since Nov. many of them immigrants who are misled by some of our deathly mushrooms looking exactly the same as the ones they know

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-08/california-mushroom-poisonings-are-on-rise-heres-whats-being-done-to-curb-exposure

#Mushrooms #California

California mushroom poisonings are on the rise. Here's what's being done to curb exposure

Recent news of more than 30 cases of mushroom-related illness and death has prompted some Southern Californians to seek a mushroom education.

Los Angeles Times
Feb 8 at 9:52pmWeb
Show threadDenaFeb 8
@skinnylatte oh, for heaven's sake! People should key out mushrooms with on-paper field guides. Not guess. And never trust "AI" or assume that looks are sufficient for identification.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 8

@Shunra the field guides and local experts are saying not to eat anything at all this year

Most people who have been poisoned are immigrants who are not part of any local mycology club or group and mistake it for the mushrooms they like back home

Show threadDenaFeb 8

@skinnylatte are experts saying there's something different about the mushrooms? or are they just assuming identification will be mishandled?

I ask because I was planning to forage agin this year (as I've done, local field-guides in hand, for more than 40 years. I'll avoid it if there's something in the environment that merits such a change.)

Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 8

@Shunra there’s a theory that we are having more toxic mushrooms than usual because of the heavier rains recently

Mycology groups are saying it’s pretty unusual and really don’t recommend it

Also now state advice

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/CAHAN/Increase-in-mushroom-poisonings-in-California%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B-.aspx

Show threadDenaFeb 8
@skinnylatte thank you!
Show threadjbaggsFeb 8
@skinnylatte A lot of people forage around where I live. Looking at the differences in all plant and animal behavior this year it's probably safest to just cultivate from known good spores. Take up home mushroom farming.
Show threadNumber6 Feb 9

@skinnylatte

What about morels? They're very distinctive compared to these capped mushrooms.

Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 9
@number6 California has false morels
Show threadNumber6 Feb 11

@skinnylatte

Are they fairly easy to distinguish? Do they have a wider range?

I've found morels twice in S. CA, but didn't eat them exactly because of those concerns.

Show threadWilliam B PeckhamFeb 9
@skinnylatte I grew up in a place where morale mushrooms could be found if you knew where to look, and I can recognize them. There's a whole family of mushrooms called puff balls that are all safe to eat, although they don't all taste good. I just go by the assumption that unless I'm with somebody that knows what they're doing, anything else that looks like a mushroom that's not a puffball and it's not a morale might be deadly.
Show threadAdrianna TanFeb 9

@wbpeckham California has many false morels

And we have toxic puff ball type mushrooms