Why People Eat (the Wrong) MushroomsBy Marilyn Shaw, Mycology Consultant
Few, if any, fields of interest are more dichotomized than that of mycophagy, the eating of fungi. You either love the mushrooms or hate them. There seems to be no middle ground. When the subject of a mushroom poisoning comes up, almost invariably someone will ask, "Why would anyone eat that?" This talk, "Why People Eat (the Wrong) Mushrooms", addresses that question using actual cases that Marilyn Shaw have encountered over the last 30 years as a consultant to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center. In general we estimate that somewhere around 100 of the thousands of mushroom species are edible, and an equal number are poisonous to some degree. Really dangerous, life threatening species comprise a rather small percentage of those. All of those other thousands of species are simply inedible for one reason or another. It is curious that this concept is understood with reference to green plants without question, while it seems so puzzling to the general public when the subject is mycology.Marilyn Shaw’s talk will help even the complete neophyte understand, a little better, the mysterious world of mushrooms.
Marilyn Shaw is Mycology Consultant to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center. She is also the chair of the Toxicology Committee and of the Education Committee of the Colorado Mycological Society.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Denver Botanic Gardens – Morrison Center
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Denver Botanic Gardens – Morrison Center
6:30 – 8 p.m.