Deadly Look-Alikes and AI Pitfalls: Global Foraging Safety Demands Expert Verification

Lovely Peeps, I thought this on #mycology in #Africa, and mycology #conservation efforts around the world was interesting! "This interest in conserving #fungi has been spurred ... by increasing evidence that they play a far larger role in how ecosystems function than previously understood: 90% of plants on Earth rely on fungi to supply them with crucial nutrients, & newer evidence is increasingly pointing to the key role that fungi play in helping maintain a stable #climate. A recent study found that as much as 36% of annual CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are stored in the underground mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/14/african-scientists-fungal-conservation-movement-aoe #Benin #Congo #Zimbabwe #Madagascar #Cotonou #Mushrooms #ICFC #ISFC #MushroomsOfMastodon #Chile #SPUN #Columbia #Kenya

Man nothing makes me homesick more than mushrooms. My mom said they went mushroom hunting and did pretty well. A few friends in Oregon have had good luck too. Spring time was picking morels around 1.5-2k elevation late march to early April. Then once the trillium started blooming around 3-5k(ish) then things really started. Plus no longer having to dodge poison oak. There used to be mushroom buyers out in the woods and we’d go pick our fill plus some extra pounds to sell to buy some lunch and pay for gas. Stories like this makes my childhood sound like I grew up in the Middle Ages and not the 80s and 90s #morel #mushrooms

It's mushroom season in the southern hemisphere, and I'm rediscovering just how much *worse* foraging resources are compared to even a few years ago. There's a terrifying number of LLM-written mushrooming books and guides out there, and they just straight make stuff up. Fungi are a particular risk to foragers, because humans straight up don't have the ability to taste some of the most deadly toxins. The fungi that cause the most poisonings are the ones that taste good. As always, do not eat any fungi unless you are absolutely sure what it is, and just as importantly absolutely sure what it is not. Learning to identify dangerous species is even more important than being able to identify edible ones. There are just too many look-alikes. Stay safe. Be extra cautious of books and guides written in this decade. Happy mushrooming! #foraging #foragingAustralia #mushrooms #mushrooming

@erikcats They were delicious. I fried them in butter and put them in an omelette with fontina cheese. All time best breakfast. I found a lot more this morning, even though the temperature dropped. #fungi #mushrooms #woodlands