Poison Pies : Hebeloma crustuliniforme group

Commonly known as “Poisonous Pie”, this species is aptly named as this mushroom looks appealing - at least to me. Smelling like and tasting like radishes, and reminiscent of biscuit dough, this species can cause severe gastrointestinal distress, so the proximity to a bathroom is essential for the enduring the grueling few hours of diarrhetic discomfort. If any mushroom “looks edible”, this is it – but “looks” in mushrooms are deceiving, cloaking toxicology.

There is no general rule for knowing which mushroom species is edible or not. You must known them individually.

This dull brown spored mushroom is a mycorrhizal species with both conifers and deciduous trees. Hebeloma crustuliniforme grows typically individually but usually scattered in groups. Reported from North America, Europe and more recently from Australia, this species is probably more widely spread than presently known.

What always draws my attention is the upper regions of the stems: they are adorned with patches of fibrils. When I teach classes on mushroom identification, this is in my top ten of the best poisonous mushrooms - meaning you should know this mushroom, respect it and leave it alone to do its work in the ecosystem. What is toxic to humans can be beneficial to trees. I struggle with assigning purpose of some mushrooms’ toxins - they simply may be happenstance. Or they may serve a function humans have yet to decipher.

Nevertheless, don’t eat this species. Please..... But have fun studying it! I have always been attracted to that which has been mysterious but potent. This is one example of many.

Reference: Paul Stamets