Destroying Angel

Description:

If you eat this mushroom, you will most likely die. It's considered to be the deadliest mushroom in North America. The "Destroying Angel" has definitely earned its common name. The "angel" part of its name refers to its pure white color and classically beautiful structure. The "destroying" part of its name refers to its truly deadly chemical composition. This mushroom was pure white with a smooth, bald, bell-shaped cap. The stipe was somewhat shaggy and had a bulb at the base. Gills were close and free.

Habitat:

Growing on the ground in a mixed forest with lots of oak.

Notes:

Destroying Angels are abounding with mycotoxins. The main type of mycotoxin that they contain are called amatoxins. Destroying Angels can contain up to three kinds of amatoxins: beta-Amanitin, alpha-Amanitin, and/or gamma-Amanitin. None of these are good for you, but alpha-Amanitin is definitely the worst of the three. It gets easily absorbed into your body and only takes 0.1 mg for every kg of body weight to kill you. Since each mushroom contains up to 12 mg, it's pretty easy to get a deadly dose. Alpha-Amanitin is an insidious toxin as it prevents your body from copying DNA into new cells, which means your body can't make any new cells. There are three main stages after ingestion. The first is INCUBATION. This stage is asymptomatic and lasts from 6 -12 hours after eating the mushroom. The second stage is GASTROINTESTINAL. This stage is characterized by terrible stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. It lasts for about 24 hours, after which time things calm down and you feel better for anywhere from 24-48 hours. This, however, is a false remission. The third stage is the CYTOTOXIC stage: This is when the mushroom truly begins to kill you. During this stage, your body will not able to replace dying cells because the toxin prevents you from transcribing DNA. This is bad news for your liver, because cell death and replacement happens very quickly in the liver. Over the next 24-48 hours, your liver will die. Once your liver dies, your kidneys will go as well. If untreated, you will probably die at this point. With treatment, many people usually die anyway unless they can get a liver transplant, or were able to obtain other heroic measures during the early stages of infection. So, the lesson is: don't mess with this beauty because looks can surely be deceiving.