IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 4038, 4 August 1931, Page 68

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

A POISONOUS BEAUTY.

By

J. Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S.

One of the most beautiful and one of the most deadly plants amongst the poisonous fungi has attracted the attention of Miss Lucy N. Robson, of Pirongia, Waikato. “ I would very much like to know about some mushrooms I found growing under a large Piqus insignis,” she writes. “They sureiy must have been a fairy court in gala array. They were not the familiar pink and white mushrooms, but had brilliant red tops dotted with white. Beneath they were a pure delicate cream. I was so surprised to see them and so delighted that I took them home and placed them in a bowl of water. The following morning they had grown amazingly, the largest having attained a circumference of 214 inches. They remained a brilliant splash of colour in our sitting room for four days, and were greatly admired by all who saw them. I should say that the species is very uncommon as well as very beautiful.”

These showy plants, evidently, are members of a widely distributed and notorious species of the family of the mushrooms and toadstools. The species is known popularly as the fly-agaric, on account of its haying been used, steeped in milk, as a poison for flies that drank the liquid. In the literature of the fungi it is Amanita muscaria. The first word is the general Greek word for a fungus, derived from Mount Amanos, in Cilicia, where many fungi grow. The second word is from musca, a fly. Miss Robson is justified in describing her plants as mushrooms, but their scarlet caps, studded with white warts, distinguish them clearly from common mushrooms. The stem and the knife-like plates, called gills, that radiate from it usually are ivory-white, giving an added beauty. These plates are important organs, as they hold the spores. When a plant is young, the part that contains the spores is wrapped in a veil. This is rent during development, but sometimes remains as a sheath on the stem.

It is estimated that quite 90 per cent, of deaths from fungus poisoning are caused by three allies of the fly-agaric. This inglorious trio are Amanita phalloides, innocent in appearance and with a pleasant taste and smell, sometimes mistaken for the common mushroom, but causing terrible suffering; and Amanita virosa ana Amanita verna. In most cases of poisoning by these fungi the sufferer dies on the third to the eighth day after having eaten the fungus. The poison mav not have any effect until about 10 hours after the meal; it is made more deadly by its delayed action.

The fly-agaric is not so dangerous or so painful as the other Amanitas mentioned, but many deaths in other countries have been placed at its door. Acting on the nerve centres, its poison produces dilation of the pupils of the eyes, spectral illusions, inco-ordination, delirium, and sometimes paralysis and the spasms of tetanus. The symptoms often are accompanied bv vomiting and excessive thirst. Strangely, the fly-agaric is used by people of Northeast Siberia and Kamchatka as a stimulant resembling hashish. First noted nearly 200 years ago, this practice has been mentioned by many travellers down to 1903. Thg usual method is to roll a fungus up like a pill and swallow it without chewing. Steeped in the juice of a particular species of berry, the effect of strong wine is obtained. One large fungus or two small fungi will produce a state of intoxication for a whole day. especially if water is taken with the dose.

From one to two hours after the fungus has been eaten, giddiness and drunkenness set in. The mind becomes cheerful, the face becomes flushed, involuntary words and actions follow, and finally there is a complete loss of consciousness. Some people, under the influence of the fungus, become very active, their muscular exertion being stimulated. If the dose is too large, there are violent spasmodic movements. In many people, ludicrous effects are produced. If one of these persons wishes to step over a straw or over a small stick, he takes a stride sufficient to clear the trunk of a tree; a talkative person can keep neither silence nor secrets; a person who is fond of singing songs continually The Koraks of Kamchatka sometimes take the fungus in order to work themselves up to a point of murdering an enemy. The custom is to blame the fungus for all absurdities and crimes committed during the bouts. The fungus is believed to issue commands to its devotees in this direction.

In England the fly-agaric has been recommended as a remedy for epilepsy and scrofula, and a lotion from it has been applied against ringworm and eruptions of the skin. Its different effects in different countries is explained by the treatment it is given. Russian peasants who eat much fungus pay close attention to the method of cooking, adding large quantities of salt and vinegar, which, after long boiling, may be powerful agents in counteracting the poison. Eighty years ago a Frenchman named’ Gerard demonstrated by experiment that he could make the fly-agaric safe for consumption. He stated that his family and he were in the habit of eating without ill-effects all sorts of deadly fungi. In the presence of a commission. Gerard took about one pound of the fly-agaric, prepared by his own method, without suffering any harm. Some negro women in the United States make a practice of eating the fly-, agaric after preparation, which includes, the extraction of the poison by salt and vinegar. Most of the negro women in the Washington markets dread the flyagaric. One of the few who use this fungus described her method of cooking it. She scraped the stem, removed the knife-like plates on the cap, and peeled off the cap’s upper surface. Dressed in this way, the plants were boiled in salt and water, and later steeped in vinegar. They were then washed in clear water, cooked in gravy like common mushrooms and served with beef steak. The most interesting feature of thia process, as an English fungologist has. pointed out, is that, although the negro women was absolutely ignorant of the chemistry of fungus poisons, her method of removing the poisons is scientifically correct. The knife-like plates, not the showy cap, are believed to be the chief seat of the poisonous principle. Their removal eliminates a large quantity of the poison. Salt and water removes phallin, another sort of poison; vinegar removes muscarine, an alkaloid poison; and the fungus, after several treatments, is innocuous.

This is the theory. Coming down to tin tacks, it is wise to take no risks whatever on such a deadly plant as the fly-agaric. The safer plan is to follow Miss Robson’s example and treat it, and admire it, as a beautiful ornament only, Miss Robson’s statement that one of her plants grew amazingly in a single night, attaining a circumference of 21J inches, should not be discredited. Rapid growth in the fungi is common. Early writers may have exaggerated this peculiarity, but in England recently a field mushroom was 30 inches in circumference; another was 33i inches, another 364 inches. A common mushroom found in a quarry near Paris in 1546, and presented to King Louis Philippe, had a circumference of 43 inches; one that grew at Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk, was 47 J inches. The record is held by a mushroom found by a farmer in the woods near Chateau Roux. France, with a circumference of four feet.

“On Sunday I was awakened at 0 a.m. by a swallow fluttering round my face with intense curiosity, and all round the room inspecting all the recesses, -just like the little fantails in New Zealand,” writes Dean Carrington, formerly of Christchurch, in a recent letter from his home near Cambridge, England. “ I made an accurate drawing of him as ho pirouetted about in circles like a butterfly, or, rather, like a little gauzy dragon, or an archangel. I never knew they were so delicately coloured before, pale yellow and grey underneath, picked out with black. Such a vast tail, spread out like a fan! Then he sat on the top of the open window-sash and twittered loudly. Shortly another swallow came, and there was a second inspection. This one took a special interest in my physiognomy and hovered a foot off. This morning (Monday) they- went to the spare room instead, and later imported some hay. It is very serious. A family council was held, and it was decided that we cannot have them occupying our best bedrooms. There is no grievance, for there is the whole stable loft vacant, with room for 50 ‘ bungalows ’ amongst the rafters, and only one occupied so far. The only question is how to stop them, for one cannot keep one’s bedroom windows shut. Another came in the little study downstairs, but got puzzled with the glass, and I had to help him out. I was never faced with this problem before.

“ I was mistaken in thinking that the swallows had discarded my room for the spare bedroom. On going to bed after writing the above. I found them roosting on the picture-rail in my bedroom, and they flew wildly about when I entered with a light. There was no getting them out, so I put out the light and went to bed in the dark. At 6 a.m. they were out and away, but returned while I was dressing, and made free use of the room regardless of my presence. They had also occupied the spare room. It is becoming serious, and must be coped with. My daughter tells me that they have adopted her room. too. Wednesday.—The swallows are very lively, but I have settled it with wire netting across the open windows. It seems dreadfully inhospitable, but you simply cannot sleep at peace, or preserve the decencies of life in an aviary.”