How to tell Weeping widow from Fool's webcap
Weeping widow and Fool's webcap look alike, so they're easy to mix up — but Weeping widow is inedible, while Fool's webcap is deadly poisonous. The main visible difference: cap surface: Weeping widow — fibrous, scaly, dry, Fool's webcap — velvety. If you have even the slightest doubt, leave the mushroom be.
Not sure? Identify by photoSide by side
| Characteristic | Weeping widow | Fool's webcap |
|---|---|---|
| Edibility class | Weeping widow: Inedible | Fool's webcap: Deadly poisonous |
| Cap colour | Weeping widow: Brown, Orange, Rusty | Fool's webcap: Orange, Red, Brown |
| Cap shape | Weeping widow: Convex, Umbonate | Fool's webcap: Convex |
| Cap surface | Weeping widow: Fibrous, Scaly, Dry | Fool's webcap: Velvety |
| Taste | Weeping widow: — | Fool's webcap: Unknown |
| Stem | Weeping widow: Central, Hollow | Fool's webcap: Central |
| Ring (veil) | Weeping widow: Cobweb-like, Ring remnants | Fool's webcap: Ring remnants |
| Nutrition type | Weeping widow: Saprotroph | Fool's webcap: Mycorrhizal |
| Partner trees | Weeping widow: — | Fool's webcap: Oak, Beech, Hornbeam, Pine |
| Growth habit | Weeping widow: Solitary, In groups, In clusters from one base | Fool's webcap: In groups |
Same in both: season, use, size, smell, flesh colour change, hymenophore, substrate.
DEADLY POISONOUS
Eating it can cause death. Do not pick it and do not taste it.
It contains orellanine (Cortinarius orellanus contains the highest concentrations of any webcap), along with the related compounds orelline and orellinine. Orellanine is a nephrotoxin: through oxidative stress it destroys the cells of the kidneys' proximal tubules. It builds up in the kidneys and causes symptoms slowly.
What sets it apart is a record delay before symptoms: in a review of 90 described poisonings (Danel et al., 2001), digestive upset usually appeared on the third day and signs of kidney damage on the eighth or ninth, sometimes only after two to three weeks. Because of this delay: people don't connect their worsening condition with a mushroom eaten a week earlier, several portions may have been eaten by then, medical help comes late, when the kidneys are already badly damaged, activated charcoal and gastric lavage no longer work.
Clinical phases:
Phase 1 (after several days, on average on day 3): thirst, dry mouth, headache, nausea, lower back (kidney) pain, mild gastroenteritis. People often put the symptoms down to a cold or food poisoning.
Phase 2 (on average from day 8 or 9, sometimes later): oliguria (reduced urination), then anuria (no urine at all). Creatinine and urea rise in the blood, along with hyperkalemia. This is full-blown acute kidney failure.
Phase 3 (the following weeks): either kidney function recovers (partially, with scarring), or the illness progresses to chronic kidney failure requiring lifelong hemodialysis or a kidney transplant.
Deaths have been described (rarely), but chronic kidney failure is the more common outcome: in the review by Danel et al. (2001) it developed in about half of the cases.
Treatment: there is NO specific antidote. Treatment is symptomatic: hemodialysis to remove toxins and support the kidneys, infusion therapy, electrolyte correction and, in severe cases, a kidney transplant. How well treatment works depends critically on early detection: the sooner doctors start monitoring the kidneys, the sooner they can begin supportive treatment and dialysis. No specific treatment has been proven to limit the damage.
Prevention: no orange-russet gilled mushroom with a cobwebby cortina goes into the basket. NO EXCEPTIONS. It's worthless in the kitchen, and no edible species resembles it closely enough to be a real risk (the chanterelle has ridges instead of gills; honey fungus has a ring and paler gills).
If you suspect poisoning, call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK) immediately
When and where they meet
Together: July–November
What they look like
Cap, Hymenophore, Stem, Flesh, Smell
Cap
Weeping widow
The cap is 3 to 10 cm across, occasionally 12 cm. It starts bell-shaped or hemispherical with an inrolled margin, then becomes convex to almost flat, usually with a low, broad bump.
The surface is dry and densely fibrous, woolly or finely scaly, with fibres radiating from the centre. It's tawny, ochre or yellow-brown, darker in the centre. A pale, ragged fringe of veil hangs from the edge and wears off with age.
Fool's webcap
The cap is 4-7 cm across, hemispherical to conical-convex when young, later convex to flat with a low umbo. It's orange-red, fiery orange or russet-orange, darker in the centre and paler at the margin. The surface is velvety and dryish, microscopically scaly, not slimy. The margin is thin, with fine radial fibres in young mushrooms.
Hymenophore
Weeping widow
The gills are attached and crowded, pale yellow-brown at first, then dark brown, mottled and almost black, with white edges. In damp weather droplets form along the edges, turn black with spores and leave dark spots. On young caps a cobweb-like veil covers the gills.
The spore print is black or blackish brown.
Fool's webcap
The gills are attached to the stem, widely spaced and broad. They start russet-orange and darken to rusty brown as the spores ripen. The spore print is rusty brown, a diagnostic feature of the genus Cortinarius. In young mushrooms the gills are covered by a cobweb-like partial veil (cortina).
Stem
Weeping widow
The stem is 5 to 12 cm tall and 0.5 to 1.5 cm thick, whitish at the top and browner below, fibrous or scaly, hollow and brittle.
There's no true ring: near the top the veil leaves a fibrous ring zone that turns black with spores, like a pen line round the stem.
Fool's webcap
The stem is 4-9 cm tall and 0.7-1.5 cm thick, cylindrical, long and relatively slender, often thickening toward the base. It's yellow-orange to yellow, paler toward the base, with fine lengthwise fibres on the surface. Remnants of the cobwebby cortina form a thin band on the stem, coloured by rusty-brown spores that have settled on it.
Flesh
Weeping widow
The flesh is thin, whitish to watery brown, browner at the stem base, and doesn't change colour when cut.
Fool's webcap
The flesh is firm, orange-yellow to brownish yellow and does not change colour when cut. The smell is faint and neutral, in some populations with a hint of radish. The taste is mild and indistinct (do NOT taste it: even a small amount of toxin is dangerous).
Smell
Weeping widow
The smell is indistinct.
Fool's webcap
Faint and neutral, with no distinctive notes. The smell is NOT a warning sign — the mushroom smells neutral, which makes it even more treacherous.
Related comparisons
Sources · 19
- [1]Index Fungorum
- [2]Species Fungorum
- [3]GBIF
- [4]Wikipedia (English)
- [5]Вікіпедія (українська)
- [6]Википедия (русская)
- [7]First Nature: Lacrymaria lacrymabunda, Weeping Widow
- [8]First Nature: Hebeloma crustuliniforme, Poisonpie
- [9]Kuo M., MushroomExpert: Lacrymaria velutina
- [10]Wild Food UK: Weeping Widow
- [11]The Foraging Course Company: Foraging guide, Weeping Widow
- [12]Mushroom Appreciation: Weeping Widow Mushroom
- [13]Watling R. Studies in the genera Lacrymaria and Panaeolus. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 1979, 37(2), Watling R. (1979)
- [14]Wikipedia (de): Tränender Saumpilz
- [15]Шульга В. М. Світ грибів України: Лакримарія бархатиста
- [16]GBIF: знахідки Lacrymaria lacrymabunda в Україні
- [17]Атлас грибів України, Зеров Д.К. (1979)
- [18]MycoBank Database
- [19]iNaturalist Ukraine