Fool's funnelClitocybe rivulosa

Within 15-60 minutes — heavy salivation, sweating that soaks through clothing, tearing, runny nose, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, slow heartbeat. Call 112 or your local emergency number right away. Put the mushroom remains in a bag — it is critical for the doctor to know what was eaten. In hospital you will be given atropine. The prognosis is favorable if you seek help quickly.

Two features. (1) Stem: in the fairy ring champignon (Marasmius oreades) it is thin, flexible, tough, twisting like wire, and does not break even when bent hard. In the clitocybe the stem is brittle and snaps easily. (2) Gills: in the fairy ring champignon they are distant, cream, attached or free. In the clitocybe they are crowded, white, decurrent down the stem. (3) Cap: in the fairy ring champignon it is umbonate, reddish-tan, without pinkish streaks. In the clitocybe it is white with pink concentric zones.

No. Muscarine is heat-stable — boiling, pickling, drying and freezing do not destroy it. No method of preparation makes this mushroom safe.

In meadows and pastures, in gardens, parks, on forest edges, dacha lawns and forest glades. It loves grassy open places with fertile soil. It often grows in fairy rings of 10-50 fruiting bodies. It is often found in the same spots as fairy ring champignons — hence the main risk of confusion.

Throughout the forest and forest-steppe zones; in the steppe — in parks and shelterbelts. A very widespread species — found in any region. Especially common in cultivated meadows, pastures and gardens.

August — November, peaking in September–October. This coincides with the season of fairy ring champignons and young Agaricus mushrooms — hence the risk of confusion. It does not fruit in the summer heat or in winter.

With the fairy ring champignon (Marasmius oreades) — most often and most fatally. With the young field mushroom (Agaricus campestris). With St George's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) — a spring species, but it sometimes has a flush in autumn. The general rule: in meadows, don't pick small whitish mushrooms without checking three features: stem toughness (brittle in the poisonous one), decurrent gills (present in the poisonous one), spore print (white in the poisonous one).

Without a microscope, telling them apart reliably is almost impossible — the three species are so similar that they are often lumped together as the "little white funnels" complex. The key feature of C. rivulosa is pinkish concentric zones on the cap. But all three are equally poisonous, so for a forager the difference doesn't matter: all three are equally dangerous, and none of them goes in the basket.