Angel Wing Mushroom — Deadly Or Not?

[Music] Henry would not imperative and in this video I'm going to feature a mushroom that to many people is considered to be edible and quite good and this mushroom is eaten around the world wherever it grows and if you pick up some field guides especially the older mushroom field guides you're going to read that this mushroom is edible and tasty however if you pick up some more recent field guides you're going to read that this mushroom is poisonous it's toxic and should not be consumed so the mushroom in question is the angel wing mushroom plural Sabella pigeons so how did this mushroom go from being edible and good to poisonous it should not be consumed well in 2004 unexpectedly over 50 cases of food poisoning were reported due to consumption of the angel wing mushroom with 17 of those cases ending up in death due to acute encephalopathy and encephalopathy is a general term to describe a brain disorder that affects brain function or structure now despite many efforts to identify the underlying causes of these events nothing conclusive has been determined now there's way more to the story than what I just described before I get into the potential toxicity associated with the angel wing mushroom and a controversy surrounding this wild mushroom let's actually go see if we can find some angel wing mushrooms because I'm in the right habitat I'm in conifer woods there's a lot of Eastern hemlock trees that's where this mushroom tends to grow it's the right time of the year it's mid-autumn and I'm in the right bio region so the northern hemisphere the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere so I have a good feeling we're gonna find some enjoying mushrooms let's go see if we can actually [Music] so here's an excellent fruiting of angel wing mushers pleurisy Belapur regions at species name Parisians means spreading because of the growth habit and pleurisy bella is a mono tipic guiness meaning it's very easy to master there's only one species in that genus which is this one angel winged mushroom pleurisy bella origins now you're probably looking at this saying this kind of looks like an oyster mushroom and you're right it does look like an oyster mushroom for many years this was placed in the oyster mushroom genus which is the pleurotus genus if you're interested in positively identifying confidently identifying foraging for oysters mushrooms and stay tuned because after I tell you how to identify this one the angel wing mushroom I'm going to compare and contrast this fungus to at least two austere mushroom varieties so first let's start with angel wing mushroom the angel wing mushroom pleura Sabella parisians is a small thin white fleshed fungus that decomposes wood each cap is typically between one and a half to four inches wide and this is a plural fungus meaning it resembles an oyster mushroom in shape with its fan or oyster like cap that projects horizontally out from the wood the caps texture is typically smooth and usually pure white at least when the mushroom is fresh the underside of the angel egg mushroom contains a fertile surface of closely spaced white gills these gills are de current so they run down the entire length of the cap on the edges of these gills the mature spores are dispersed and the spores are colored white in other words the spore print of the angel wing mushroom is white a key feature of the angel wing mushroom is that there is typically no stock attaching the fruiting body to wood so the word used in field guides to describe the stockless feature is Cecil s es si le Cecil keep this in mind because when we talk about some oyster mushrooms you will see that a few species actually do contain stalks now the angel wing mushroom is an excellent white rot decomposer of wood and white rot fungi are among the few organisms in nature that are able to mineralize the lignin in wood due to the secretion of extracellular enzymatic complexes the growth habit of angel wing mushroom how you find it growing is scattered like this you might see it growing by itself just solitary just or you might see it growing in small clusters and the key features that you're almost always going to see it on conifer would not necessarily deciduous wood although there are reports that it might grow on deciduous would almost always you're going to find it on conifer wood here in eastern North America northeastern North America I almost always see it growing on Eastern hemlock tree wood dead trees so standing dead trees logs stumps this is a stump of an Eastern hemlock tree that's how I almost always see that keep that feature in mind angel wing mushroom conifer would almost always in the season of the angel wing mushroom is late summer through autumn so now that we can identify the angel wing mushroom with confidence let's compare contrasted to a few oyster mushroom species there are a lot of oyster mushroom species there are estimates that they're between 40 to 200 species in the pleurotus genus we're only going to feature two of the common ones that could be confused for the angel wing mushroom pleurotus austria Attis the common or the winter oyster mushroom and parottas pulmonary as' which is the summer easter mushroom first up let's start with pleurotus austria Attis because it has a wide distribution in the season overlaps with angel wing mushroom pleurotus austria Addis the common of the winter oyster mushroom is a medium to somewhat large edible mushroom and choice edible mushroom that grows in overlapping clusters on wood usually on hardwood logs stumps and standing dead trees rarely will you see pleurotus Austria at its decomposing conifer would keep this in mind because remember angel wing mushrooms tend to grow in conifer wood each cap of chloride has aa Stratasys typically between 3 to 8 inches wide and it's shaped like an oyster while many oyster mushroom species are white this one protists Austria Addis is usually darker almost grayish brownish in color the underside contains whitish gills that become yellowish in age these gills are de currant so they run the complete length of the cap and down the stock speaking of this stock Clara saw Stratus typically has a short stock and it's usually off-center so it isn't directly underneath the center of the cap sometimes clear out is aa Stratus does not have a stock so this isn't a defining feature the smell of pleurotus Austria at us ranges from fishy to mushroom e to an odor resembling anise I've gotten all three smells from oyster mushrooms over the years so definitely smell your oyster mushrooms whenever you find them and see what you think the spore print of parottas austria Attis is pale lilac - whitish now parottas austria Attis is unique in that it tends to grow in the colder months of the year so mid autumn all the way through winter and even into early spring if you're finding an oyster mushroom during these colder months and colors tannish grayish or brownish there's a good chance you're looking at pleurotus austria Attis pleurotus pulmonary as' is another edible oyster mushroom that typically grows in the summer months so many people refer to this as the summer easter mushroom like pleurotus austria Attis the summer easter mushroom grows on hardwood logs stumps and standing dead trees usually in clusters though it's not uncommon to see it growing scattered or sometimes solitary unlike pleurotus austria Attis the caps of the summer oyster mushroom are typically pure white remember Florida's Austria at his caps are a little darker grayish tannish sometimes brownish the Fertile underside of the summer Ulster mushroom contains whitish gills that are de current the spore color produced by this mushroom is white or pale lilac Kuroda's pulmonary as' typically has a whitish stock that attaches the mushroom to its substrate so there we have two oyster mushroom varieties and we already talked about the angel wing mushroom let's compare and contrast some of the big key identifying features between all these species starting with the seasoned angel wing mushroom typically grows in the autumn months the oyster mushrooms the summer oyster mushroom clearly grows summer months through early autumn the winter oyster mushroom pleuritis austria Attis that's a cold weather species so late fall through winter through early spring whenever you look at the substrate this is a big key identifying feature the angel wing mushroom almost always grows on conifer wood whereas those oysters varieties as - that I described almost always grow in deciduous wood the size is different angel wing mushrooms typically smaller compared to the bigger sizes of the oyster mushrooms the flesh is a little different this one tends to be a little thinner compared to the thicker flesh of the oyster mushroom varieties and the angel mushroom tends to be sessile meaning it doesn't really have a stock that attaches the cap to the substrate there's Ulster mushroom varieties sometimes do have stocks and in many cases they almost always have stocks depending on which player out of species you're talking about you usually see a little stock in the Pirotta species this one almost always a sessile no stock whatsoever attaching this to the substrate okay so here's another nice fruiting of the angel winged mushroom clarissa belapur engines some of it down here there's a nice little cluster starting right here again on conifer wood this is an Eastern hemlock tree stump so let's revisit that original question of toxicity associated with angel Englisher remember in 2004 in Japan - nowhere else not in North America but in Japan over 50 people were poison after consuming this mushroom 17 of them died due to acute encephalopathy and more specifically the myelin in their bodies became eroded the myelin is a protective coating surrounding the nerve fibers in the central nervous system now here's something very important to keep in mind almost all of these people were of older age and almost all of them were already undergoing hemodialysis for chronic renal failure prior to consuming the angel wing mushrooms almost all of them were older and had compromised kidney function since 2004 there have been some isolated incidences only in Asia not in North America no deaths have ever been associated with this mushroom here in North America and currently researchers still don't know what might be so toxic about this mushroom various studies have been conducted on the toxicity associated with this mushroom showing that it might be a cyanide compound that it might be a polysaccharide compound that it might even be an amino acid derivative known as pleura Sabella as ER deep I know people who consume this mushroom with no ill effects heck you might be watching this video laughing right now saying I consumed this mushroom and I'm still alive I don't suffer any ill effects so what does Adam recommend what do I recommend I think the most responsible thing for me to recommend is to do more research yourself there's plenty of research out there you can access the literature using your favorite search engine type in pleura Sabella / engines toxicity and see what you think I know plenty of people who consumed this mushroom with no ill effects still because a lot of people are watching this video I have a lot at stake I'm going to say do more research yourself I can't take responsibility for your actions make an educated decision yourself and take full responsibility for all of your actions personally I don't eat this mushroom I opted instead for the true oyster mushrooms in the genus protists [Music] against the angel wing mushroom pleurisy Belapur engines we covered a lot of information regarding this fungus information that will only help you become a better and more successful and more skilled mushroom hunter thanks so much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed it you want to stay in touch feel free to subscribe to the learner land youtube channel you could head on over to learn your landcom sign up for the email newsletter we could stay in touch that way you'll also follow me on social media facebook instagram at learn your land thanks again for watching this video truly appreciate it and I'll see you on the next one you

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 124,609

Keywords: Adam Haritan, Learn Your Land, Mushroom, Fungus, Fungi, Mushroom Hunting, Poisonous Mushroom, Angel Wing, Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus, Toxic, Mycology, Hunting, Foraging, Wild Edibles, Medicinal Mushroom, Paul Stamets, Botany, Outdoors, Nature, Primitive Skills, Permaculture, Gardening, Hiking, Backpacking, Pennsylvania, Pleurocybella, Plants

Id: _yD89oNOgxw

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 30 2018