''Entoloma sinuatum'' (
commonly known as the livid entoloma, livid agaric, livid pinkgill, leaden entoloma, and lead poisoner) is a
poisonous mushroom
Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxic substances. Its symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mushroom toxins are secondary metabolites produc ...
found across Europe and North America. Some guidebooks refer to it by its older scientific names of ''Entoloma lividum'' or ''Rhodophyllus sinuatus''. The largest mushroom of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of pink-
spored fungi known as ''
Entoloma
''Entoloma'' is a large genus of terrestrial pink-gilled mushrooms, with about 1,000 species. Most have a drab appearance, pink gills which are attached to the stem, a smooth thick cap, and angular spores. Many entolomas are saprobic but some ...
'', it is also the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
. Appearing in late summer and autumn,
fruit bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...
are found in
deciduous woodlands on clay or chalky soils, or nearby parklands, sometimes in the form of
fairy ring
A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by ...
s. Solid in shape, they resemble members of the genus ''
Tricholoma
''Tricholoma'' is a genus of fungus that contains many fairly fleshy white-spored gilled mushrooms which are found worldwide generally growing in woodlands. These are ectomycorrhizal fungi, existing in a symbiotic relationship with various s ...
''. The ivory to light grey-brown
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
is up to across with a margin that is rolled inward. The sinuate
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
s are pale and often yellowish, becoming pink as the
spores develop. The thick whitish
stem has no
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
.
When young, it may be mistaken for the
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...
St George's mushroom (''
Calocybe gambosa'') or the miller (''
Clitopilus prunulus
''Clitopilus prunulus'', commonly known as the miller or the sweetbread mushroom, is an edible pink-spored basidiomycete mushroom found in grasslands in Europe and North America. Growing solitary to gregarious in open areas of conifer/hardwood f ...
''). It has been responsible for many cases of
mushroom poisoning in Europe. ''E. sinuatum'' causes primarily
gastrointestinal problem
Gastrointestinal diseases (abbrev. GI diseases or GI illnesses) refer to diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract, namely the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum, and the accessory organs of digestion, the liver, ...
s that, though not generally life-threatening, have been described as highly unpleasant. Delirium and depression are uncommon
sequelae. It is generally not considered to be lethal, although one source has reported deaths from the consumption of this mushroom.
Name and relationships
![Entoloma sinuatum by Bulliard 1788 plate 382](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Entoloma_sinuatum_by_Bulliard_1788_plate_382.jpg)
The saga of this species' name begins in 1788 with the publication of part 8 of
Jean Baptiste Bulliard's ''Herbier de la France''. In it was plate 382, representing a mushroom which he called ''
Agaricus
''Agaricus'' is a genus of mushrooms containing both edible and poisonous species, with over 400 members worldwide and possibly again as many disputed or newly-discovered species. The genus includes the common ("button") mushroom ('' Agaricus bi ...
lividus''.
[ In 1872, ]Lucien Quélet
Lucien Quélet in 1869
Lucien Quélet (14 July 1832 – 25 August 1899) was a French naturalist and mycologist. Quélet discovered several species of fungi and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycolo ...
took up a species which he called "''Entoloma
''Entoloma'' is a large genus of terrestrial pink-gilled mushrooms, with about 1,000 species. Most have a drab appearance, pink gills which are attached to the stem, a smooth thick cap, and angular spores. Many entolomas are saprobic but some ...
lividus'' Bull.";[ although all subsequent agree that this is a fairly clear reference to Bulliard's name, Quélet gave a description that is generally considered to be that of a different species from Bulliard's.][ In the meantime, 1801 had seen the description of ''Agaricus sinuatus'' by Christian Persoon in his '' Synopsis Methodica Fungorum''.][ He based that name on another plate (number 579) published in the last part of Bulliard's work, and which the latter had labelled "agaric sinué".][Which means that under the modern principles of nomenclature, Persoon, not Bulliard, is the first to have used the name, since only names in Latin can be considered.] German mycologist Paul Kummer
Paul Kummer (22 August 1834 – 6 December 1912) was a minister, teacher, and scientist in Zerbst, Germany, known chiefly for his contribution to mycological nomenclature. Earlier classification of agarics by pioneering fungal taxonomist Elias Ma ...
reclassified it as ''Entoloma sinuatum'' in 1871.[
For many years Quélet's name and description were treated as valid because Bulliard's name antedated Persoon's. However, in 1950, a change in the '']International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...
'' (termed the Stockholm Code, after the city where the International Botanical Congress was being held) caused only names on fungi published after 1801 or 1821 (depending on their type) to be valid.[ This meant that suddenly Bulliard's name was no longer a valid name, and now it was Persoon's name that had priority. Nonetheless, it was a well-known name, and the already chaotic situation caused by a change to a famous Latin name was further complicated by another of Quélet's suggestions. He had in 1886 proposed a new, broader genus that included all pink-gilled fungi with adnate or sinuate gills and angular spores: ''Rhodophyllus''.][ These two approach to genus placement, using either ''Rhodophyllus'' or ''Entoloma'', coexisted for many decades, with mycologists and guidebooks following either;][ ]Henri Romagnesi
Henri Charles Louis Romagnesi (7 February 1912 – 18 January 1999) was a French mycologist who was notable for a thorough review and monograph of the agaric genus '' Entoloma'' (or ''Rhodophyllus'' as it was known in the early 20th century), as ...
, who studied the genus for over forty years, favoured ''Rhodophyllus'', as initially did Rolf Singer.[ However, most other authorities have tended to favor ''Entoloma'',][ and Singer conceded the name was far more widely used and adopted it for his ''Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy'' text in 1986.][
In the meantime, it had been widely accepted that the 1950 change to the Stockholm Code caused more problems than they solved, and in 1981, the Sydney Code reinstated the validity of pre-1801 names, but created the status of ]sanctioned name
In mycology, a sanctioned name is a name that was adopted (but not necessarily coined) in certain works of Christiaan Hendrik Persoon or Elias Magnus Fries, which are considered major points in fungal taxonomy.
Definition and effects
Sanctioned ...
for those used in the foundational works of Persoon and Elias Magnus Fries.[ Thus ''Entoloma sinuatum'', which Fries had sanctioned,][ still had to be used for the species described by Quélet even though Bulliard's name was the older one. At about the same time, Machiel Noordeloos re-examined Bulliard's name in more details, and discovered that not only was it ]illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
(and thus not available for use) because William Hudson had already used it ten years earlier for a different species, but Bulliard's illustration was clearly not an ''Entoloma'', but a species of ''Pluteus
''Pluteus'' is a large genus of fungi with over 300 species. They are wood rotting saprobes with pink spore prints and gills that are free from the stem.
The Latin word ''Pluteus'' means ''shed or penthouse''.
Characteristics of the genus ...
'',[It is now generally accepted the species in question is '']Pluteus cervinus
''Pluteus cervinus'', also known as ''Pluteus atricapillus'' and commonly known as the deer shield or the deer or fawn mushroom, is a mushroom that belongs to the large genus ''Pluteus''. It is found on rotten logs, roots and tree stumps and is ...
''. a genus that is only distantly related to ''Entoloma''.[ As this made Quélet's name definitely unusable for the ''Entoloma'', and because at the time he and Romagnesi][ believed there were ground to treat Quélet's "''E. lividum''" and Persoon's ''E. sinuatum'' as separate species, he had to coin a third name for Quélet's species: ''Entoloma eulividum''.][ He however later changed his mind on this issue, combining again his own ''Entoloma eulividum'' and ''E. sinuatum'', so that Persoon's name is now universally recognised.][ Because it was previously widely used and Quélet had provided a good description and illustration (which, the proposer argued, was better considered as a new species rather than a mere placement of Bulliard's name in another genus),][ a proposal was made in 1999 to ]conserve
Conserve may refer to:
* Conserve (condiment), a preserve made from a mixture of fruits or vegetables
* Conserve (NGO), an Indian environmental organization
* Conserve (publisher), a Dutch publisher
* Conserved sequence, a protein or nucleic aci ...
''Entoloma lividum'' and thus restore its use.[ However, it failed because ''E. sinuatum'' had already been in use (if not universally) for many years and was thus a well-known name for the species.][
The specific epithet ''sinuatum'' is the ]Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "wavy", referring to the shape of the cap, while the generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
words ''entos/ἐντός'' "inner" and ''lóma/λῶμα'' "fringe" or "hem" from the inrolled margin.[ The specific epithet ''lividum'' was derived from the Latin word ''līvǐdus'' "lead-coloured".][ The various common names include livid entoloma, livid agaric, livid pinkgill, leaden entoloma, lead poisoner,][ and grey pinkgill.][ In the ]Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
region of France it was known as ''le grand empoisonneur de la Côte-d'Or'' ("the great poisoner of ''Côte d'Or''").[ Quélet himself, who was poisoned by the fungus, called it ''the miller's purge'', akin to another common name of false miller.][
Within the large genus ''Entoloma'', which contains around 1500 species, ''E. sinuatum'' has been classically placed in the ]section
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
''Entoloma'' within the subgenus ''Entoloma'', as it is the type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
of the genus.[ A 2009 study analyzing DNA sequences and spore ]morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
found it to lie in a rhodopolioid clade with (among other species) '' E. sordidulum'', '' E. politum'' and '' E. rhodopolium'', and most closely related to ''E.'' sp. 1.[ This rhodopolioid clade lay within a crown ''Entoloma'' clade.][
]
Description
The largest member of its genus,[ ''Entoloma sinuatum'' has an imposing ]epigeous
Epigeal, epigean, epigeic and epigeous are biological terms describing an organism's activity above the soil surface.
In botany, a seed is described as showing epigeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed expand, throw off the ...
(aboveground) fruiting body
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cy ...
(basidiocarp), bearing a cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
6–20 cm (–6 in) wide, though diameters of have been recorded.[ It is convex to flat, often with a blunt umbo in its centre and wavy margins, ivory white to light grey-brown in color, and darkening with age. The distant ]gills
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...
are sinuate (notched at their point of attachment to the stipe) to almost free, generally (but not always) yellowish white before darkening to pink and then red. Interspersed between the gills are lamellulae (short gills that do not extend completely from the cap margin to the stipe).[ When viewed from beneath, a characteristic groove colloquially known as a "moat" can be seen in the gill pattern circumnavigating the stalk.][ The ]form
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form also refers to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data
...
lacking yellow color on the gills is rare but widespread, and has been recorded from Austria, France and the Netherlands.[Noordeloos, ''Fungi Europaei'', p. 114.]
The stout white stipe lacks a ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
and is anywhere from high, and in diameter. It may be bulbous at the base. The taste is mild, although it may be unpleasant. The mushroom's strong and unusual odor can be hard to describe; it may smell of flour, though is often unpleasant and rancid. The spore print
300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...
is reddish-brown, with angular spores 8–11 × 7–9.5 μm, roughly six-sided and globular in shape. The basidia
A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...
are four-spored and clamped. The gill edge is fertile, and cystidia
A cystidium (plural cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that ar ...
are absent.[Noordeloos, ''Fungi Europaei'', pp. 111–13.]
Similar species
Confusion with the highly regarded miller or sweetbread mushroom (''Clitopilus prunulus
''Clitopilus prunulus'', commonly known as the miller or the sweetbread mushroom, is an edible pink-spored basidiomycete mushroom found in grasslands in Europe and North America. Growing solitary to gregarious in open areas of conifer/hardwood f ...
'') is a common cause of poisoning in France; the latter fungus has a greyish -white downy cap and whitish decurrent gills which turn pink with maturity.[ Young fruit bodies of ''Entoloma sinuatum'' can also be confused with St George's mushroom ('' Calocybe gambosa''),][ although the gills of the latter are crowded and cream in color, and the clouded agaric ('']Clitocybe nebularis
''Clitocybe nebularis'' or ''Lepista nebularis'', commonly known as the clouded agaric or cloud funnel, is an abundant gilled fungus which appears both in conifer-dominated forests and broad-leaved woodland in Europe and North America. Appeari ...
''), which has whitish decurrent gills and an unusual, starchy, rancid or rancid starch odor.[ To complicate matters, it often grows near these edible species.][ Its overall size and shape resemble members of the genus '']Tricholoma
''Tricholoma'' is a genus of fungus that contains many fairly fleshy white-spored gilled mushrooms which are found worldwide generally growing in woodlands. These are ectomycorrhizal fungi, existing in a symbiotic relationship with various s ...
'', although the spore color (white in ''Tricholoma'', pinkish in ''Entoloma'') and shape (angular in ''Entoloma'') help distinguish it.[ The rare and edible all-white dovelike tricholoma ('' T. columbetta'') has a satiny cap and stem and a faint, not mealy, odor.][ ''E. sinuatum'' may be confused with '' Clitocybe multiceps'' in the ]Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
of North America, although the latter has white spores and generally grows in clumps.[ A casual observer may mistake it for an edible field mushroom ('']Agaricus campestris
''Agaricus campestris'' is a widely eaten gilled mushroom closely related to the cultivated button mushroom ''Agaricus bisporus''. It is commonly known as the field mushroom or, in North America, meadow mushroom.
Taxonomy
This species was ori ...
''),[ but this species has a ring on the stipe, pink gills that become chocolate-brown in maturity, and a dark brown spore print.][ The poorly known North American species '' E. albidum'' resembles ''E. sinuatum'' but is likewise poisonous.][
]
Distribution and habitat
''Entoloma sinuatum'' is fairly common and widespread across North America[ as far south as ]Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.[ It also occurs throughout Europe and including Ireland and Britain,] though it is more common in southern and central parts of Europe than the northwest.[ In Asia, it has been recorded in the Black Sea region,][ and ]Adıyaman Province
Adıyaman Province ( tr, , ku, ) is a province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The capital is Adıyaman. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has a Kurdish majority.
Adıyaman Province was part of the pro ...
in Turkey,[ Iran,][ and northern ]Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
in China.[
The fruit bodies of ''E. sinuatum'' grow solitarily or in groups,][ and have been found forming ]fairy ring
A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by ...
s.[ Fruit bodies appear mainly in autumn, and also in summer in North America,][ while in Europe the season is reported as late summer and autumn.][ They are found in deciduous woodlands under ]oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, beech, and less commonly birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
, often on clay or calcareous
Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.
In zoology
''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...
(chalky) soils,[ but they may spread to in parks, fields and grassy areas nearby.][ Most members of the genus are ]saprotrophic
Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ( ...
, although this species has been recorded as forming an ectomycorrhizal relationship with willow (''Salix
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
'').[
]
Toxicity
This fungus has been cited as being responsible for 10% of all mushroom poisonings in Europe.[ For example, 70 people required hospital treatment in ]Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
alone in 1983,[ and the fungus accounted for 33 of 145 cases of mushroom poisoning in a five-year period at a single hospital in ]Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
.[ Poisoning is said to be mainly ]gastrointestinal
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...
in nature; symptoms of diarrhea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...
, vomiting and headache occur 30 minutes to 2 hours after consumption and last for up to 48 hours. Acute liver toxicity and psychiatric symptoms like mood disturbance or delirium may occur. Rarely, symptoms of depression may last for months.[ At least one source reports there have been fatalities in adults and children.][ Hospital treatment of poisoning by this mushroom is usually supportive; ]antispasmodic
An antispasmodic (synonym: spasmolytic) is a pharmaceutical drug or other agent that suppresses muscle spasms.
Smooth muscle spasm
One type of antispasmodics is used for smooth muscle relaxation, especially in tubular organs of the gastrointest ...
medicines may lessen colicky abdominal cramps and activated charcoal may be administered early on to bind residual toxin. Intravenous fluids may be required if dehydration has been extensive, especially with children and the elderly. Metoclopramide
Metoclopramide is a medication used for stomach and esophageal problems. It is commonly used to treat and prevent nausea and vomiting, to help with emptying of the stomach in people with delayed stomach emptying, and to help with gastroesoph ...
may be used in cases of recurrent vomiting once gastric contents are emptied.[Benjamin, ''Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas'', p. 188.] The identity of the toxin(s) is unknown, but chemical analysis
Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...
has established that there are alkaloid
Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...
s present in the mushroom.[
A study of ]trace element
__NOTOC__
A trace element, also called minor element, is a chemical element whose concentration (or other measure of amount) is very low (a "trace amount"). They are classified into two groups: essential and non-essential. Essential trace elements ...
s in mushrooms in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey found ''E. sinuatum'' to have the highest levels of copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
(64.8 ± 5.9 μg/g dried material—insufficient to be toxic) and zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
(198 μg/g) recorded.[ Caps and stalks tested in an area with high levels of mercury in southeastern Poland showed it to ]bioaccumulate
Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated ...
much higher levels of mercury than other fungi. The element was also found in high levels in the humus-rich substrate.[ ''Entoloma sinuatum'' also accumulates ]arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...
-containing compounds. Of the roughly 40 μg of arsenic present per gram of fresh mushroom tissue, about 8% was arsenite
In chemistry, an arsenite is a chemical compound containing an arsenic oxyanion where arsenic has oxidation state +3. Note that in fields that commonly deal with groundwater chemistry, arsenite is used generically to identify soluble AsIII anions. ...
and the other 92% was arsenate
The arsenate ion is .
An arsenate (compound) is any compound that contains this ion. Arsenates are salts or esters of arsenic acid.
The arsenic atom in arsenate has a valency of 5 and is also known as pentavalent arsenic or As(V).
Arsenate res ...
.[
]
See also
*List of deadly fungi
Although many people have a fear of mushroom poisoning by "toadstool
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denot ...
* List of ''Entoloma'' species
Footnotes
References
Cited texts
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1424216
Entolomataceae
Fungi described in 1801
Fungi of Asia
Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America
Poisonous fungi
Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon