Inocybe patouillardii

Inocybe patouillardii, commonly known as the deadly fibrecap or red-staining inocybe, is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Inocybe and one of the few known to have caused death. It is found growing in small groups on leaf litters in association with beech. All mushroom guidebooks as well as the mushroomers advise that the entire genus should be avoided. The fruiting bodies (i.e., the mushrooms) appear in spring and summer; the bell-shaped caps are generally pale pinkish in colour with red stains, with a reddish-pink stipe and gills.

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Taxonomy and naming

The red-staining inocybe was first described by Italian Giacomo Bresadola in 1905 after the French botanist Patouillard.

Description

The cap is hemispherical before flattening out and can reach 8 cm in diameter. It is variable in colour, initially white though becoming yellow or brownish with age, and stained with pink-white and red marks or lines. The edge of the cap is often irregular with split edges and rough texture. The adnexed gills are reddish-pink. The stem, dark red-pink, is thin with no ring. The flesh is initially yellowish, later dark pink. The colour tends to fade in direct sunlight. It may be mistaken for Calocybe gambosa, though the latter does not stain red, Agaricus species or Cortinarius caperatus.^[1]

Habitat

It is commonest in beech woods and chalky soils, but grows in other broad-leaved woodland as well. It mainly grows on leaf litter usually during the spring and summer seasons.

Toxicity

Inocybe patouillardii contains muscarine, in much higher doses than Amanita muscaria and has been known to cause death, unlike the latter mushroom.^[2].

References

• North, Pamela (1967). Poisonous Plants and Fungi in colour. Blandford Press & Pharmacological Society of Great Britain. 

• Toxicity, Mushrooms - Muscarine