Bill Van made a recent post commenting on mushrooms and the inherent dangers. The taste test is not license to start ingesting small amounts of anything from lichen to redwood trees. Many plants evolved ignorant of the 24 hour rule ;O) Avoiding known groups with many poisonous members such as mushrooms altogether may be a prefered strategy. Some illegal immigrants died here in California after eating mushrooms. All the medical resources of a modern hospital couldn't reverse the liver damage. Knowledge of a few key plants for a given region AND WHERE THEY ARE is essential. I once went on a botony class hike to a major park named for one indicator species.The class was dumbfounded at not seeing a single specimen-until the instructor pointed to the canyon faces we were passing ( another lesson in occasionaly looking behind you on a trek) to reveal thousands. Anecdotal information is just that. Ethnobotonies, flora guides etc. need to tell which part and when they can be eaten. A conquistadore found himself lost and opted for a quick suicide by poisoning. He boiled a porridge of a known deadly root. He survived, and sutained himself on it until returning to his base. It is a food still suspect to residents of hospitals. It is Tapioca pudding ;O)

To comment on your post Chris. You made a very valid point about flora and fauna being different (even if similar looking) through many regions and how essential it is to know what are you being surrounded by. I grew up in Poland in high mountains where the only "vegetable" that we found in abundance were mushrooms. Since I was 2 years old until 10 (when I was brought to the US) every fall we would go out to pick them for the winter time. Yes even the most experienced pickers had problems and somebody always got poisoned every season but this is what I learned from my dad and elders:<br><br>- slice the mushroom and touch it with you tongue. If it burns it's poisonous.<br>- try sticking to mushrooms that have sponge under the hat instead of blades. <br>-stay away from mushrooms of wild colors<br>-stay away from mushrooms that animals or bugs don't touch<br><br>Mushroom picking is a dying art. Every time I go upstate (NY) hiking I bring a bag full of mushrooms for a delicious soup. But I only pick what I’m familiar with and know for sure. I would never pick something that looks kind of similar to what I know. I have to be 101% sure even if it means that I won’t bring home less than expected.<br><br>Matt<br><br>

If a person were to slice the plant and rub the open end onto a small portion of their hand to see if a rash or something similar developed, would this also be effective? I would expect a toxic plant to have an adverse reaction to ones skin. However, I could be completely wrong about this.

My Grandmother had a sure-fire test whenever her brother-in-law would deliver some fresh mushrooms he had just picked. She'e wait a day and call her sister, "Is Bud okay?" If he survivied she figured it was then safeto eat them!