''Entoloma rhodopolium'', commonly known as the wood pinkgill, is a poisonous mushroom found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. In fact, it is one of the three most commonly implicated fungi in cases of mushroom poisoning in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(Other two are ''

Omphalotus japonicus ''Omphalotus japonicus'', commonly known as the tsukiyotake , is an orange to brown-colored gilled mushroom native to Japan and Eastern Asia. It is a member of the cosmopolitan genus ''Omphalotus'', the members of which have bioluminescent fruit ...

'' and '' Tricholoma ustale''). ''E. rhodopolium'' is often mistaken for edible mushroom, '' E. sarcopum''. Symptoms are predominantly gastrointestinal in nature, though

muscarine Muscarine, L-(+)-muscarine, or muscarin is a natural product found in certain mushrooms, particularly in ''Inocybe'' and ''Clitocybe'' species, such as the deadly '' C. dealbata''. Mushrooms in the genera ''Entoloma'' and ''Mycena'' have al ...

, muscaridine, and

choline Choline is an essential nutrient for humans and many other animals. Choline occurs as a cation that forms various salts (X− in the depicted formula is an undefined counteranion). Humans are capable of some ''de novo synthesis'' of choline but re ...

have been isolated as toxic agents. The taxonomy of this species is currently unclear, with several different forms identified in North America, and questions over whether the European and North American fungi are even the same species. ''Entoloma'' is a genus of pink spored fungi. An alternate scientific name seen is ''Rhodophyllus rhodopolius'', from Quelet's broader genus containing a larger subsection of pink-spored fungi. ''Entoloma nidorosum'', previously considered a separate species, is now classified as a variety of this fungus.

Gallery

image:Entoloma rhodopolium - Lindsey.jpg image:Entoloma.rhodopolium2.-.lindsey.jpg

References

Poisonous fungi Entolomataceae Fungi of Europe Fungi of Asia Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries {{Agaricales-stub

See also

Gallery

References