Poisonous plants and mushrooms everyone should know. Bluebells and foxgloves, oleander and poinsettia - these plants decorate gardens and living rooms. Some of them are not only beautiful, but also dangerous, because they contain highly active poisons. In most cases this is not a problem. But it can be dangerous for children.

Typical symptoms of poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe pain in the stomach. Particularly insidious plant toxins can cause seizures, respiratory paralysis, cardiac arrhythmia and even cardiac arrest.

Poisonous plants and mushrooms - from hallucinations to heart failure

While walking, poisonous plants and mushrooms lie in wait on roadsides and meadows. The most poisonous are henbane, colchicum, datura, belladonna and the extremely toxic hemlock.

Datura and belladonna (henbane), for example, contain alkaloid atropine, which can cause hallucinations and seizures. Colchicum, in turn, is dangerous due to the substance colchicine. It suppresses processes cell division and can lead to respiratory and heart failure.

Dose plays a role

The powerful, often specific effect of the poison makes it attractive for medicine. In many cases it is true that only the dose makes the poison a medicine. If high dose can cause illness or even kill, an effective small dose will help you recover. I meadow saffron, for example, is used for the treatment of gout, reducing joint pain.

The most famous example medicinal effect shows digitalis as one of the oldest medicines for heart. The plant's yellow or purple flowers contain digoxin glycoside, which is part of heart medications.

It strengthens the heart muscle, increases arterial pressure and normalizes heartbeat, thus helping with heart failure or heart valve disease. Its overdose, however, leads to cardiac arrest.

Toadstools are a deadly mess

Plant poisonings are relatively rare: their toxic substances often have a bitter taste. Happens more often mushroom poisoning. Some poisonous mushrooms are so similar to their edible counterparts that a delicious mushroom dish may be the last one you eat.

Fortunately, most mushrooms found in Russian forests are harmless. Of the 6 thousand species of mushrooms, only 160 are considered poisonous and contain toxins dangerous to human life.

Little is known about mycotoxins yet. Despite the most modern methods analysis, only some of them have been studied. Their structure is often very complex. In addition, some inedible mushrooms contain a truly poisonous cocktail of in different quantities different ingredients, which often depends on the age of these mushrooms.

Pale grebe - the silent killer

The most dangerous poisonous mushroom - pale grebe or green fly agaric. It contains poisons phallotoxin and amanitin, which are ten times more toxic than viper venom. One mushroom is enough to kill a person. Amanitin inhibits the formation of a vital enzyme, without which the body's cells can no longer produce proteins - they die. Fallotoxin is less toxic, but acts faster.

This is especially dangerous for liver cells. Within four to seven days she refuses. The mortal danger is as follows: if, in case of poisoning with other mushrooms, the mushroom toxins are at least partially removed from the body through vomiting, the poison of the toadstool remains in the body.

And other mushrooms are dangerous

The most beautiful cobweb is a deadly poisonous mushroom

Some mushrooms contain orellanine poison, the effect of which is manifested only 5–14 days after consumption: nausea and vomiting appear, kidney function is disrupted, which leads to renal failure. The poison is found mainly in representatives of the arachnoid genus, for example, in orange-red spider web.

In nature, everything is arranged very harmoniously, there is nothing superfluous. When wandering through the forest in search of edible mushrooms, do not rush to kick a toadstool or fly agaric out of frustration. Poisonous to humans, they benefit some animals; they work as forest orderlies, destroying old stumps and trunks fallen by storms, processing last year’s leaves and broken branches into fertilizer. Without them, the forest would turn into an impenetrable thicket. So, just go around them without touching them with your hands or a sharp knife.

Fly agarics

Fly agarics know everything. Their cute red hats with white specks have been studied in books since early childhood and brought to life in coloring books. This reduces their chances of getting into the mushroom picker's basket to zero. Unless you decide to cook folk remedy from a disease in which fly agaric must certainly participate. And no one will dare to collect them for soup for lunch.

The fly agaric loves not only red outfits, but also gray and brown ones. The so-called panther fly agaric wears a brown cap with white speckled warts. Arranged in parallel circles throughout the cap, the specks turn the mushroom into little panther cubs hiding in the grass.

With his elegant hat, he makes the forest more beautiful, delighting everyone who knows how to enjoy beauty. While poisonous to the human body, it is beneficial to the soul.

Pale and white grebes

The easily recognizable fly agaric does not create problems for the mushroom picker. It is much more difficult to distinguish toadstools, which are “doubles” of edible mushrooms. These include the pale and white grebes.

Being a double of the delicious champignon, the pale toadstool turns into a dangerous and treacherous enemy person. The insidiousness of the toadstool lies in the delayed action of its poison, which manifests itself 12 and sometimes 30 hours after a meal, when it is almost impossible to fight the effect of the poison.

Of course, you can distinguish a toadstool from a champignon:

* Firstly, due to the unpleasant smell emanating from toadstools, while champignon smells pleasantly fresh.

* Secondly, you need to look under the mushroom cap to see the color of its plates. The champignon has pink plates, which later turn purple. Plates of both toadstools white. The color of the cap of the pale toadstool has a greenish tint, and the cap of the white one, which is also called the “stinking fly agaric,” is white.

* Thirdly, in toadstools, at the base of the leg, you can see shreds of a torn sac, if it was not covered with earth. The leg of the white grebe is not smooth, but is covered with scales, which give the leg a shaggy appearance.

Poisonous red champignon can grow together with edible champignons, distinctive feature which are a reddish spot in the center of the cap; bad smell; pulp turning yellow when broken.

False honey mushrooms

Summer and autumn honey mushrooms, which are very easy to collect once you stumble upon their colony, also have poisonous counterparts, often growing next to edible ones. To distinguish them from each other, you need to take a closer look at the color of their caps and plates.

The plates of the false summer honey fungus (or sulfur-yellow false honey fungus) are colored in greenish or sulfur-yellow shades, and the poisonous color of the cap itself is unpleasantly irritating to the eye. The edible summer honey fungus paints its plates cream or brown.

It’s easy to distinguish autumn (or real) honey fungus from its poisonous counterpart; you just have to smell its white flesh. The mushroomy, appetizing aroma of real honey fungus cannot be compared with the unpleasant odor of its counterpart - false honey fungus. In addition, the pulp of the double is not white, but yellow.

If you don't trust your sense of smell, you can compare the colors of the caps and plates of mushrooms. The edible honey fungus has yellowish-white plates with dark spots, while the false honey fungus has gray to black plates. The double's hat is brick-red, for which it is also called the "brick-red false honey fungus."

The best rule when picking mushrooms is that if you are in doubt about the identification of a mushroom, it is better to leave it to forestry.

They consider it their duty to kick them. And few people think about whether this should be done. Since the mushroom is inedible, it means it needs to be trampled and destroyed. Honey mushrooms, chanterelles, boletus mushrooms are another matter. This is a real delicacy, tasty and healthy food, so we try to collect them in such a way as not to disturb the mycelium. After all, on next year You’ll also want to come to the forest and pick a basket of fragrant mushrooms. And toadstools and fly agarics - who needs them? Why save them?

Why you can’t destroy poisonous mushrooms

And man has long learned to benefit from poisonous mushrooms. A sleeping pill is prepared from the same fly agaric in France. In Alaska, Kamchatka and Chukotka they have resorted to the services of this mushroom since ancient times, and continue to use various alcoholic and water tinctures fly agaric for the treatment of diseases of the nervous system, rheumatism, tuberculosis, gland tumors. And in modern medicine preparations based on poisonous mushrooms are used. For example, the well-known penicillin, which saved the lives of millions of people, was obtained from the penicillium mushroom, and the drug Agaricus Muscarius, which helps with epilepsy, vascular spasms and activity disorders spinal cord- again from the fly agaric.

There is nothing superfluous in nature. We should not forget that we, people, are not the only inhabitants of the Earth, and not everything on the planet was created exclusively for our benefit and benefit. After all, you don’t kill hedgehogs or sparrows just because they are not suitable for your food? Every living creature, every plant performs its intended function. And to destroy even one species means upsetting the natural balance. And sooner or later this will hit the person himself. Unfortunately, we already have many examples of such an attitude towards nature.

What’s interesting is that scientists still haven’t come to a consensus: should mushrooms belong to the animal kingdom or the plant kingdom? These living organisms still remain the most mysterious and unexplored. But in any case, they have the right to live and reproduce next to us, even if not everyone likes it.

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Types of poisonous mushrooms that grow in Russia!

The next mushroom season has begun, which means it’s time to take out the basket with all sorts of things from the closet and go out into the forest to fish.

But is it really that simple? Of course not. Representatives of the fungal kingdom can be as dangerous as wild animals or poisonous plants.

Therefore, if you want to become an inveterate mushroom picker and at the same time live to an old age, it is worth getting acquainted with these unusual creatures in advance.
Poisonous mushrooms, of which there are about 30 species in Russia, are often disguised as edible relatives, which often makes them difficult to detect.

If you have carefully studied all the photographs below and read the descriptions, but still cannot distinguish a poisonous mushroom from an edible one, it is better to leave it alone.

Death cap


Occurs: from August to the end of September.

The toadstool's cap is yellow-brown, pale green or olive in color. The edges of the cap are usually lighter than the center.

There is a white ring on the top of the leg.

Externally, the toadstool is not much different from edible mushrooms growing in the forest, and this makes it doubly dangerous.

Pale grebe has a strong toxic effect.

False fox


Occurs: from July to October.
Or as it is also called - the orange talker.

The cap of the false chanterelle is brightly colored from orange to copper-red and is shaped like a funnel with smooth edges. The plates are bright red, the stalk is about 10 cm in height, often narrowing towards the base.

This type of mushroom often grows in groups, less often singly, and always near real chanterelles.

It is quite simple to distinguish them: the flesh of false chanterelles has a very unpleasant odor.

The mushroom is considered mildly poisonous, i.e. in order to get rid of the symptoms of poisoning, it is enough to do a gastric lavage.

False honey agaric


Occurs: from June to October.
Disguising itself as its edible relative, the mushroom has a convex cap that is yellow, pink or pale orange.

The center of the cap is usually darker in color than the edges.

The pulp is light yellow, smells unpleasant and has a bitter taste.

Grows in large groups on rotting wood.

This mushroom is poisonous; after a few hours, symptoms of poisoning appear: nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating and loss of consciousness. False honey fungus is similar in appearance to four edible honey fungus: autumn, winter, summer and grey-plate.

Amanita toadstool


Occurs: from mid-August to mid-September.
This cousin of the toadstool is considered by some to be a conditionally edible mushroom. However, scientists have identified poisons that are contained in all parts of his body.

The cap of the toadstool is covered with large white scales and reaches up to 10 cm in diameter.

The color of the cap is a delicate cream color. The leg is long, thin and white; there is a dense ring, which is darker than the shell of the leg and the pulp.

The pulp emits an odor somewhat similar to the aroma of freshly peeled potatoes.

Satanic mushroom


Occurs: from June to September.
This mushroom is also considered conditionally edible, but in order to remove all toxins from it, it must be thermally treated for 10 hours.

After such punitive cooking, the pulp becomes completely inedible.

Externally, the satanic mushroom is similar to an ordinary boletus, but unlike boletus, it actively produces and accumulates toxic substances that are dangerous to humans, affecting the liver, spleen and nervous system. The cap is green, olive or brown in color and in some specimens can reach 40 cm in diameter.

It is quite simple to identify an insidious mushroom: when cut, the stem turns first blue and then bright red within 5 minutes: the poison interacts with oxygen from the atmosphere.

Russula is pungent and pungent


Found: from mid-summer to mid-autumn.
Among the harmless representatives of the russula genus, there is a dangerous saboteur that can cause a lot of trouble if it gets onto your dinner table - this is the pungent russula. It is almost impossible to distinguish the slant from the red russula, at least until the spores ripen, which color the plates with inner side in ocher color.

Since the symptoms of vomiting russula poisoning are disguised as normal food poisoning, the mushroom picker may not suspect for a long time the cause of the disaster that befell him.

All parts of russula are pungent and pungent, characterized by a bitter taste and a strong burning sensation after touching the lips and tongue.

Milky gray-pink


Found: from August to late October.
In most countries, the gray-pink milkweed is classified as dangerous poisonous mushrooms, whose toxins tend to accumulate in liver and kidney cells.

Appears as bronchial asthma, some patients may develop toxic hepatitis.

The color of the milkweed cap varies from gray-pink to light red.

The shape is round, reminiscent of a funnel. Centric rings, scales or mucus are completely absent.

The dense white flesh has a moderate bitter taste.

This type of mushroom is not similar to any other, and therefore it is quite easy to recognize.

Grille red


Found: from late spring to autumn.
Without exception, all individuals of the latticeworker are very poisonous.

However, the extravagantly shaped mushroom is listed in the Red Book, so do not rush to trample it as soon as you notice it.

However, you will most likely feel it long before you see it: the latticeworker emits a pungent smell of rotting flesh, spreading 10-15 m around its habitat.

The smell is produced by fully ripe mushrooms.

The piquant aroma attracts insects, which carry the spores around.

Often grows in splendid isolation, sometimes in groups.

Symptoms of poisoning are trivial: vomiting, loose stool mixed with blood, increased body temperature.

Fortunately, they go away completely on their own after 10-12 hours.

Gymnopilus beautiful


Found: from late June to mid-September.
This forest dweller is indeed quite beautiful in appearance, but you should never taste it or even touch it.

Its pulp contains an impressive amount of intoxicating and hallucinogenic substances.

If you fall under the influence of an insidious mushroom, you can easily end the fun-filled mushroom hunting trip in the nearest swamp or impenetrable taiga. Gymnopilus does not grow alone; huge colonies can extend tens of meters around the center of the mycelium. Gymnopilus is similar in shape and color to edible scales, but edible mushrooms have a larger fruiting body and a wide ring on the stalk.

Valuy is false


Occurs: from early August to late September.
Poisonous species are often found among the lamellar mushrooms of the cobweb genus.

The greatest danger to the health of mushroom pickers is false valui or, as it is popularly called, “horseradish mushroom.”

It is often confused with edible form value, but, despite the external similarity, these two mushrooms differ sharply in chemical composition.

A distinctive feature is the pungent smell of horseradish (have you thought why they call it that?), which is emitted by freshly cut specimens.

Poisonous plants and mushrooms
Poisoning can be caused by black henbane, the seeds of which are in a capsule and resemble poppy seeds. When poisoning with henbane occurs severe headache, pupils dilate, dry mouth appears, palpitations and shortness of breath occur. Poisonous crow's eye, wolf's bast (daphne), belladonna (belladonna), wolfsbane (monkshood), poisonous hemlock (hemlock), spotted hemlock, spiked crow, hellebore, and May lilies of the valley can cause poisoning. The fruits of forest beech resemble hazelnuts (half-hazelnuts). Eating them raw causes poisoning similar to henbane poisoning: headaches and dizziness appear. Poisoning can also be caused by the kernels of plums, cherries, apricots, peaches, and bitter almonds if consumed in excess. The most poisonous plants in the North include water hemlock and poisonous mushrooms.

If you have doubts about which plants are poisonous and which are not, watch birds, rodents, monkeys, bears and other herbivores. Usually the food they eat is suitable for humans.

Along swamps, marshy banks of rivers, oxbow lakes and lakes, you can see a tall plant with numerous white flowers rising above the bright green leaves. This is one of the most poisonous plants of our flora - hemlock, or poisonous wech. The stem of the plant is bare, round, often with a purple or violet tint, erect, grooved, hollow inside, reddish outside, up to a meter high. The leaves are pinnately compound. Blooms in summer. The flowers are small, white, collected in the form of umbrellas. Vekh resembles the edible plant angelica, angelica. It differs from them in having smaller leaves, a thick, fleshy, internally hollow rhizome, divided by transverse partitions into separate chambers, which are filled with yellowish juice.

All parts of the vekha, when rubbed between the fingers, emit a specific unpleasant odor. The plant is poisonous in any form. The sweet stem and the sweetish rhizome with a pleasant smell (reminiscent of the smell of dried apples) are especially poisonous. The poison of the plant - cicutoxin - causes convulsions in humans, respiratory arrest, leading to death.

Next to hemlock, hemlock, porcupine, and hemlock often grow, which also have strong poisonous properties and belong to the same umbelliferous family. Modern scientists are still arguing whether the famous ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, sentenced to death by an ancient court, was poisoned with a milestone or hemlock in 399 BC new era. The properties of these plants are so close. Still leaning towards hemlock ( Latin name milestone).

Hemlock poison - horse meat - causes vomiting, speech impairment, paralysis, and in severe cases, death.

Hemlock

In the forest and alpine regions of the Altai Mountains, aconite, or Altai fighter (local name - kuron), is quite common. Pictures of dark blue beautiful kuron flowers often attract attention. This plant is 60-70 centimeters in height with small, often dissected, carved leaves, rather densely located along the stem. The flowers are yellow or blue, collected in a large raceme at the top of the stem. Each individual flower is shaped like a helmet. The root is tuberous-thickened.

According to ancient Greek myth, aconite grew from the poisonous saliva of the terrified hellish dog Cerberus, whom Hercules brought from the underworld to earth (the eleventh labor of Hercules). The plant owes its name “wrestler” to Scandinavian mythology: the fighter grew up at the site of the death of the god Thor, who defeated a poisonous snake and died from its bites. The poisonous properties of aconite were known already in ancient times: the Greeks and Chinese made poison for arrows from it, in Nepal they used it to poison bait for large predators and drinking water when attacked by the enemy. The entire plant - from roots to pollen - is extremely poisonous, even the smell is poisonous. Plutarch writes that the soldiers of Mark Antony, poisoned with aconite, lost their memory and vomited bile. According to legend, the famous Khan Timur died from aconite - his skullcap was soaked in the poisonous juice. Hunters still use the plant instead of strychnine to poison wolves. The toxicity of the plant is caused by the content of alkaloids (primarily aconitine), which affect the central nervous system and cause convulsions and paralysis of the respiratory center.

Poisoning with aconite makes itself felt within a few minutes with a tingling sensation in the mouth, throat, burning sensation, profuse drooling, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea. a feeling of tingling and numbness in various parts of the body: lips, tongue, skin. Burning and pain in the chest. A state of stupor may occur and vision may be impaired. In case of severe poisoning, death can occur within 3-4 hours.

In general, it must be said that the buttercup family, to which aconites belong, contains many poisonous species. These include spurs, delphiniums or larkspurs - large plants with long clusters of blue flowers. Sometimes they are called fly agaric (local name). Marsh marigold - a spring plant with large yellow flowers and rounded heart-shaped leaves - grows in swamps and river banks.

Delphinium

Marsh marigold

Crows are plants with a cluster of small white flowers and black or red berries.

The common raven's eye from the lily family also belongs to poisonous plants. Crow's eye can be found in shady places in coniferous forests. The trunk of the plant is straight, 30-40 cm high. At the top of the bare stem there are four leaves in a circle (rarely 3 or 5), and between them on a low peduncle, a single greenish-yellow flower. The flower develops into a fruit - a bluish-black shiny berry. The entire plant is poisonous, especially the rhizome and berries. Signs of poisoning: nausea, vomiting, colicky pain, diarrhea, convulsions, cardiac dysfunction, respiratory arrest, paralysis.

Crow's eye

In addition to the raven's eye, the toxic effect is only on organs gastrointestinal tract has, for example, a plant familiar to many of us - nightshade. Nightshade poisoning is characterized by symptoms such as abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and drooling.

In meadows, in sparse birch groves, in ravines and bushes, but on the banks of rivers, lakes and swamps, chickweed is common, which is also called drunken grass, horse grass, “horse-killer grass.” The names are associated with cases of mass deaths of horses that ate this plant. Its stems are weak and thin, its leaves are narrow, its flowers are small and white.

Quite a beautiful plant, the common cockle, with large dark pink flowers also classified as poisonous. In alpine meadows and in the flat part of the region there are different kinds club mosses. These are evergreen plants with usually creeping stems, closely planted with needle-shaped or scale-like small leaves. Many of them contain alkaloids, which are powerful paralyzing poisons similar to curare, which was used to make poison arrows.

Massive poisonings of horses, livestock and poultry have been observed from eating hellebore. A decoction of its rhizomes is sold in pharmacies as an insecticidal remedy for lice. Hellebore is a tall plant with a thick stem and large elliptical leaves with clearly visible arched veins. The flowers are in tall panicles, yellowish-greenish or reddish-black-brown. Hellebore grows in tall grass forest floodplain and subalpine meadows, in logs and swamps in the forest zone, often forming large thickets.

The poisonous properties of henbane and dope are well known. Both plants belong to the nightshade family.

Henbane is a biennial herbaceous plant having an unpleasant odor. Its stem is erect, sticky, pubescent, 30-90 cm high. The flowers are large, up to 2 cm in length, dirty yellow (purple in the middle), with a network of purple veins. The leaves are wide, pubescent, with large teeth. The fruit is a capsule with a lid and a septum inside a five-toothed calyx. The box contains small black or yellow seeds, similar to poppy seeds. The root is similar to parsley, soft, juicy, with a sweet and sour taste. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but the seeds are especially dangerous.

Datura is a large plant with an erect, abundantly branched, bare stem. The flowers are funnel-shaped, large - up to 10 cm, located singly in the leaf axils. The fruit is a large, up to 4-5 cm in diameter, capsule, seated on the outside with greenish spines. When ripe, the fruit opens into four doors. The seeds are numerous, black, almost round. Datura is distinguished by its drought resistance and powerful growth: sometimes it reaches 120 centimeters in height.

The active ingredients of henbane and dope are alkaloids that have antispasmodic properties(reduce smooth muscle tone), dilate the pupil, relax the muscles of the bronchi, reduce secretion and intestinal motility.

At mild poisoning these plants cause dry mouth, speech and swallowing disorders, dilated pupils and impaired near vision, photophobia, dryness and redness skin, excitement, sometimes delusions and hallucinations, tachycardia.

For severe poisoning total loss orientation, sharp motor and mental agitation, sometimes convulsions followed by loss of consciousness and the development of a coma. Sharp increase body temperature, cyanosis (blue discoloration) of the mucous membranes, shortness of breath with the appearance of periodic breathing of the Cheyne-Stokes type, irregular, weak pulse, drop in blood pressure.

Death occurs due to symptoms of paralysis of the respiratory center and vascular insufficiency.

A specific complication of atropine poisoning is trophic disorders - significant swelling subcutaneous tissue face, forearms and shins.

Caution should also be taken with bushes. Among the very poisonous are the common wolfweed or wolf's bast - ornamental shrub with fragrant pink flowers that bloom before the leaves appear. The fruits are red juicy berries, the size of a pea, with one seed inside. The fruits are located in close groups, have a burning juice that burns oral cavity. Lives in the black taiga.

In the steppe zone in the southwest of the Altai foothills, on rocky slopes and among bushes, another species is found - Altai wolfwort with white flowers and grayish-green leaves. The fruits are yellowish-red. Forms compact bushes, leafy almost from the soil surface.

All parts of both the common wolfgrass and the Altai wolfgrass are poisonous, especially the fruits. You can get poisoned even if you scrape the bark off a branch with your teeth. In case of poisoning, a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, difficulty swallowing, salivation, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, blood in the urine. In peat bogs and swampy coniferous forests, an evergreen fragrant shrub grows - bog rosemary, or drunken grass.

Marsh rosemary

A strongly branched evergreen shrub with erect shoots covered with thick “rusty” tomentose, 50 to 120 cm high, with a strong, intoxicating, camphor-like odor. The leaves of wild rosemary are leathery, lanceolate, dark, shiny, linear-oblong, pointed. The edges of the leaves are strongly curled down. The flowers (up to 1.5 cm in diameter) are white, sharp-smelling, in multi-flowered umbels (May-June). The capsule fruit opens with five doors. The roots are superficial, with mycorrhiza (symbiotic habitation of fungi on the roots of higher plants). During flowering, it releases substances into the air that in large quantities have an adverse effect on humans (headache).

In early spring, the Ledebur rhododendron, or maral (local name), blooms very impressively. Its large purple-pink flowers and hard, shiny, fragrant leaves always attract attention, but be careful: it is poisonous; eating the leaves and branches of this plant by animals often leads to death.

Maralnik

Junipers, evergreen shrubs with needle-shaped leaves and blue-black berry-shaped cones, also have poisonous properties. They belong to the cypress family.

We have mentioned only some of the poisonous plants found in Altai. The list can, of course, be continued. Harmful effects can also provide medicinal plants if they are used incorrectly. Therefore, you cannot undergo treatment without a doctor’s recommendation and eat plants if not full confidence is what kind of grass or bush is in front of you.

It is often difficult for a non-specialist to notice the differences between certain types, for him many completely different plants seem the same. It should also be remembered that poisonous plants often have beautiful flowers and fruits.

Poisonous plants that are dangerous to eat

The number of such plants is small compared to non-poisonous and edible ones. Good rule is knowledge of edible plants, but if you have to eat unfamiliar ones, do it in small quantities and wait a while before continuing.

1) In polar and subpolar regions you can be sure that only a dozen plants are poisonous. Two of the most poisonous in the far North are water hemlock and poisonous mushrooms.

2) If you have doubts about which plants are poisonous and which are not, watch birds, rodents, monkeys, bears and other herbivores. Usually the food they eat is suitable for humans. Follow these tips:

do not eat plants that sting or pinch;

Boil the products of all plants that you have doubts about. The poison of many of them is neutralized in this way;

Do not consume plants with milky juice and do not allow it to come into contact with your skin. This does not apply to the many wild berries, breadfruit, papaya and barrel cactus;

Avoid poisonous ergots with an infected head, found in cereals or grasses, they have black seeds instead of the normal green ones.

Poisonous mushrooms

When collecting mushrooms, you must remember that some of them are poisonous and very dangerous. You need to use the rule - if you don’t know what kind of mushroom it is, it’s better not to take it.

Poisonous mushrooms include, first of all, the toadstool. It contains strong poisons that are not destroyed by scalding and frying. Pale toadstool can be confused with mushroom. The difference is that on the lower part of the leg of the pale grebe there is always a small tuberous swelling, covered with a shell in the form of a rim or collar. At the top of the leg there is a membranous ring (white, greenish or pale yellow). The plates under the cap are white, unpainted. In a mature champignon, these plates are dark, in a young one they are faintly pink, and there are no rings or swellings on the stem or shell. Some edible mushrooms sometimes have tuberous formations. And although this happens very rarely, it is better not to collect them.

Poisonous mushrooms include fly agarics (panther, red, stinking, porphyry). You should not eat false honey mushrooms. They are smaller in size than edible honey mushrooms and do not have films on their legs.

In light deciduous forests, often under beech trees, you can find the satanic mushroom. Its cap is gray-whitish, convex, the tubular layer is greenish-yellow, with red pores, the flesh turns blue when cut, and then becomes pale with a faint unpleasant odor. Very poisonous.

Gall and pepper mushrooms, although not poisonous, are unsuitable for food due to their bitter taste. The gall mushroom looks like a white mushroom, it is even called a false white mushroom. It is distinguished by a darker pattern on the stem and a pinkish bottom of the cap. Pepper mushroom is found much less frequently than gall mushroom. It differs from similar species of butterflies and moss mushrooms in its smaller size. The bottom of its cap has large, uneven pores and a yellowish-red tint.

You need to keep in mind the possibility of poisoning in the spring with the first mushrooms - false morels and strings. After appropriate heat treatment, these mushrooms can be eaten.