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Leaf-loving talker (waxy) belongs to the family Tricholomovaceae or Rowaceae from the order Lamellar. It has several names: deciduous, waxy, waxy, grayish, Latin - Clitocybe phyllophila.
Where do leaf-loving talkers grow?
Waxy talkers grow in Eurasia, Great Britain and North America. Distributed in deciduous and mixed forests.They prefer to grow on a leafy cushion, which is why they are called leaf-loving, but they are also found on coniferous litter.
The ripening season occurs in the autumn months. The first fruiting bodies appear in early September (in some regions at the end of August), the last ones can be found in November.
What do waxy talkers look like?
According to the description, the cap of young specimens of waxy talker (pictured) has a convex shape with a tubercle in the center, the edges are tucked inward. As it grows, it becomes flat, the bulge in the center is hardly noticeable. In old mushrooms it is funnel-shaped, with a wavy edge. The plates are not visible through the cap. The surface is beige or brown, sometimes with ocher spots, covered with a waxy coating, hence the name - waxy. The cracking of this coating gives the cap a marbling appearance. The diameter ranges from 5-10 cm.
Waxy specimens have white plates that become creamy with an ocher tint as they age. The width of the plates is 5 mm, the location is average in frequency.
The spore powder is dirty beige or pinkish cream.
The flesh in the cap is soft, thin (up to 2 mm thick), spongy, white in color; in the leg - harsh, fibrous, pale beige.
The height of the leg is 5-8 cm, the diameter is 1-2 cm. The shape is cylindrical, expanding at the base. The color is white, and as it matures it acquires a dirty ocher hue. The upper part of the leg is covered with a frost-like coating.
Waxy talkers (leaf-loving) have a soft, astringent taste, a pleasant aroma, but not mushroom, with strong spicy notes.
Is it possible to eat leaf-loving talkers?
Waxy talkers contain muscarine, an alkaloid that affects cholinergic receptors. This substance is toxic to humans, so leaf-loving talkers are not used as food.
How to distinguish waxy talkers
Leaf-loving (waxy) talkers can be confused with the following mushrooms:
- saucer-shaped talker, relating to conditionally edible specimens. It can be distinguished by its matte cap and descending plates underneath it;
- tucked talker it is a little easier to distinguish, since the mushroom is larger in size than the leaf-loving specimens. The species is classified as conditionally edible;
- hung up has a varied cap color, so some mushroom pickers mistake it for leaf-loving specimens. Distinctive features: pinkish plates, absence of concentric circles on the cap. The mushroom is edible.Important! Cherry can be identified by its cucumber or mealy smell.
Symptoms of poisoning
The first signs of poisoning may appear within 30-40 minutes after eating a mushroom dish, but more often this occurs several hours later.
Signs of waxy mushroom poisoning include:
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
- pain in the abdomen;
- hypersalivation (salivation);
- increased sweating;
- constriction of the pupils, blurred vision;
- changes in heart function (bradycardia).
A particularly dangerous sign is shortness of breath caused by pulmonary edema. In severe cases, the patient falls into a coma. Poisoning with muscarine-containing mushrooms, including waxy mushrooms (leaf-loving mushrooms), can result in the death of young children, the elderly and people with problems of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Regular consumption of small amounts of mushrooms with muscarine causes drug addiction.
First aid for poisoning
If your health worsens, you must call an ambulance and perform gastric lavage before it arrives. The antidote for muscarine is atropine. Its solution is administered subcutaneously or intravenously. But if it was not possible to identify the mushrooms, it is better not to use the drugs until doctors arrive.
Rinsing is done with a weak solution of manganese or warm water. The victim must drink 5-6 glasses of water, after which a gag reflex occurs. Repeat several times. After this, absorbents are given.
If there is a chill, the patient is covered and heating pads are applied to the abdomen and limbs.
To prevent dehydration, the victim should drink a weak salt solution (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water) in small sips; you can use the pharmacy Regidron.
Conclusion
Leaf-loving talker is an inedible representative of the Rowadovaceae family. It has similar conditionally edible species, so you need to be extremely careful when collecting them.
