Collecting wild mushrooms is a pastime for many people. Like everything else, you need to learn what is good and what is not. A friend who did this also told me that you never eat mushrooms that grow in your yard (for most people) because of the chemicals most people put on their yard. The mushroom concentrates these in their flesh. Only gather from wild areas or areas you know not to be chemically treated.

Bill

a long time ago I had heard (second hand) about a family that liked to pick mushrooms and consume them. Apatrently they went out one day picked some. One of the daughters was not feeling herself and chose not to consume them.

Not long after eating the mushrooms everyone who consumed the mushrooms died. The girl who did not eat any survived. The moral is that most mushrums are poisonious, and Identifying them may not always be 100%.

Out of all the edible plants I know of and of those that are experts on edibles, eating mushrooms is considered an unwise choice.

Are there experts on mushroom eating that know all the forms of mushrooms and there variations, heck yeah,, I know I am not one of them.

I am sorry the man eneded up in the hospital, and I hope he recovers.

And how many die from eating the "safe" food from the supermarket - every year? You would think the "experts" would advise people against shopping for food.

Just learn the two or three unmistakable and edible wild mushrooms common to your area and don't experiment with others.

Or choose not to learn and then please do not each any wild mushrooms.

I think one of the main issues with eating mushrooms, barring the "shark attack" stories (people dying, etc, from misidentification), is that, with the exception of a few varieties, a LOT of the poisonous ones look similar to non poisonous ones-and, once poisoned, there really isnt any way to rid yourself of it, IIRC. Once its consumed in a large enough quantity, your goose is cooked, so to speak.
Now, this is likely true for most plants as well-but, for the most part, there are some distinctive, easily identifiable differences between poisonous varieties & their edible cousins; enough to keep you from getting sick, or worse, if you are following your guide.
Mushrooms are not to my liking-I can identify exactly 3; puffballs, chicken of the woods, and tinder fungus. Two of which are edible. But, I think only in the most EXTREME case would I eat the first 2 (I dont think tinder fungus is edible), as I despise them. But, sometimes, beggars cant be choosers.
It would be nice to find a local mushroom expert, and spend a day identifying them! Just for the experience.

Thanks for the book links Bill.
I will be taking another look at some of the ones you recommended.

Don't be so complacent about the green plants.
There are a huge number of deadly plants.
Not only do most of the really deadly ones look just like the edible ones, but a lot of them will kill you if you just walk too close to them.
People have been killed by sleeping under some of the poison dripping trees.

It is very unwise to go near anything green. Green things kill.

Any poison-drippers in North America?

Mushrooms are delicious and learning to identify them is interesting.
However:
In most survival situation food is not a high priority - most of us have more than enough 'stored resources' to last a week or so.
If you get lost in the woods overnight then eating random mushrooms is unlikely to be a life enhancing strategy.
The stories archive here is full of cases of people getting stung/bitten/injured trying to catch and eat something after they have been lost for a couple of hours.

I think our esteemed host mentions this in excusing why he felt obliged to include a fishing kit in the PSK.

NobodySpecial, you have that part totally right.
Most of us should be able to go ten days at least before depleting vitamin or mineral reserves and possibly much longer on stored fats for calories.

One of the main reasons to teach trapping and foraging along with shelter building is to keep people from wandering off.
If they stay near the wreck or last known position they are easier to find.
Setting up a shelter, a fire and doing a bit of food gathering also helps people mentally. It helps them if they feel they are doing something positive to help themselves survive.

I wonder how long it has been since we had a thread about what the priorities for somebody who got lost or marooned are?

Dweste; The poison dripping trees are hiding out in the state of Incognito.
They try to keep their poison dripping skills hidden and commonly use large branches to kill people with instead.

Only the smaller poison drippers like Cow Parsnip, Giant Hogweed, Poison Oak, and Poison Ivy usually let themselves be found out.