Deadly webcap

Description

The deadly webcap is a small, rusty or orange-brown mushroom with a cap 2.5–8 cm across, usually with a pointed boss and a finely scaly, dull surface. It has cinnamon-orange to rusty-brown gills and a thin stem with a winding pattern of yellowish veil remnants. When cut it smells faintly of radish.

It grows in groups from August to October in coniferous forests, especially under spruces on acidic soils, also among sphagnum. In Poland its distribution is not known and few localities have been described.

At first glance it is sometimes taken for a chanterelle or similar mushrooms, and poisonings after such mistakes have been described in the literature. Webcaps contain a poison that damages the kidneys; symptoms appear after days, so the poisoning is easily overlooked. Do not pick webcaps for eating; the poison cannot be removed in the kitchen.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 2.5–8 cm. Conical to convex, partly flattened with an umbo (pointed or rounded) with age. Colour orange-brownish, rusty-orange to cinnamon-orange or tawny, with a paler margin; skin dull, finely felty or rough, covered with fine fibrous scales. Flesh thin.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills cinnamon-orange to rusty-brownish (also described as ochre or caramel, darkening with age), widely spaced, rather thick, adnate to the stem.

Stem

Height 5.5–11 cm, thickness 0.5–1.5 cm; the colour of the cap or slightly paler, cylindrical to slenderly club-shaped, with a bulbous base. In the lower half yellowish veil remnants (cortina) forming a winding pattern.

Flesh

Yellowish or cream, more rusty-brownish in the stem and base. A faint smell of radish when cut; taste indistinct. Never taste the flesh.

Spore print and spores

Spore print dark (rusty). Spores roundish-elliptic, warty, 8.5–11.5 × 6.5–9 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus. Grows in groups in coniferous forests, especially under spruces, on acidic soils, also among sphagnum; also in damp coniferous or mixed woods. Also described under beech and in bilberry scrub.

Distribution. Europe, high temperate latitudes and the subalpine zone of the Northern Hemisphere (Scandinavia, northern British Isles, the west coast of North America, Japan). In Poland its distribution and frequency are not known; by 2003 only 3 localities had been reported. Not legally protected.

Fruiting. August to October.

What can it be confused with?

• Cantharellus cibarius (chanterelle) — The chanterelle has ridges (false gills) running down the stem, an egg-yolk-yellow colour and a fruity smell; the webcap has true rusty-brown gills and a rusty spore print, without the chanterelle's yellow tinge. Mistakes have caused poisonings (including Scotland, 1979).
• Craterellus tubaeformis (yellowfoot) — Has a funnel-shaped cap and ridges instead of gills.
• Hygrophorus spp. (waxcaps) — Sometimes confused; detailed differences — no data.
• Cortinarius orellanus (fool's webcap) — The fool's webcap has a less distinct boss, a stem without a swelling at the base and orange gills; it grows in deciduous woods. Both species are deadly poisonous.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The danger of poisoning was recognised in 1972 in Finland (4 cases, 2 with permanent kidney failure).
• In 1979 three tourists near Inverness were poisoned after mistaking it for a chanterelle; two required a kidney transplant.
• In 2008 the family of the writer Nicholas Evans was poisoned by it; he had taken it for a bolete, not noticing gills instead of tubes; all four people later required kidney transplants, and those affected founded the organisation Give a Kidney.
• In Cooke's original drawings from 1887 the spores are triangular or fig-shaped, which to this day fuels the dispute over the identity of the name.