Review
-- Sandy Sheine/NAMA/The Mycophile
The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly: Knowing
the Poisonous Mushrooms, for Mushroom Hunters, Chefs,
Parents, Pet Owners, & Medical Professionals,
by Taylor Lockwood, is a very professional, well-researched,
and comprehensive video on poisonous mushrooms and the
toxicology of fungi.
Not only is it accurate and informative, but we are
also treated to his fabulous, beautiful photographs
which illustrate the video. The main program is 50 minutes
long; with extras, approximately an hour. It is available
from the web site www.kingdomoffungi.com at a cost of
$24.95 + postage.
The author’s aim is to teach us about toxic mushrooms
and their edible look-alikes. Like his previous excellent
video, The Mushroom Identification Trilogy, this video
is divided into three parts: Part I introduces poisonous
mushrooms, warning against eating old mushrooms because
they may be attacked by insects, bacteria, or slugs.
If you think you may have mushroom poisoning, you should
note the latency—which he defines as the time
between eating a mushroom and the onset of symptoms
of illness.
Part II covers basic mushroom identification. Taylor
urges us to be observant and try to identify a mushroom
from its cap, its spore-bearing surface, its stem, and
base; the colors of the cap, the pore-bearing surface,
the stem and the base; and any other identifying features
such as a ring on the stem or the shape of the base.
He suggests that we carefully study the habitat and
make spore prints. These features are illustrated with
many examples of toxic and edible mushrooms.
Part III, the longest part of the video, describes in
detail and illustrates members of eight groups of toxins
and the mushrooms that contain them. Taylor provides
expert advice on cooking and eating mushrooms; counsel
on how to avoid poisoning yourself and others (keep
a fresh sample of any mushrooms that you are eating,
in case you do become ill) and, in case you suspect
a toxic reaction to mushrooms, the Poison Control Center
phone number: (800) 222-1222.
If you do plan to eat wild mushrooms, use this video
to learn which ones are toxic. Along with the video
is a booklet in which Taylor cautions: “This program
is presented for informational and educational purposes
and not as a guide for mushroom edibility. Don’t
eat any mushroom based only upon what you see here.
Always have a local expert show you what is good to
eat and what is not.” Wise words. Thank you, Taylor,
for adding so much information to our knowledge of toxic
and edible mushrooms.
—Sandy Sheine
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