Poisonous Or Not !
A more pertinent question to ask is how to distinguish the edible from
the poisonous mushrooms. There is no single test or criterion, like the
“silver spoon” test, or the criterion of a scaly cap, or the presence of
a “poison cup” or “death cup,” which will serve in all cases to
distinguish the edible from the poisonous.
Two plants may possess identical characters in this respect, i. e., each may have the “death
cup,” and one is edible while the other is poisonous, as in _Amanita
cæsarea_, edible, and _A. phalloides_, poisonous. There are additional
characters, however, in these two plants which show that the two differ,
and we recognize them as two different species.
To know several different kinds of edible mushrooms, which occur in
greater or less quantity through the different seasons, would enable
those interested in these plants to provide a palatable food at the
expense only of the time required to collect them. To know several of
the poisonous ones also is important, in order certainly to avoid them.