Deadly
Here’s a fungus you should learn to identify if you’re interested in foraging and eating wild fungi. It’s the Deadly Webcap, Cortinarius rubellus.
![Deadly Webcap - Cortinarius rubellus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Deadly-Webcap-Cortinarius-rubellus-The-Hall-of-Einar-1419-483x725.jpg)
That’s not because it’s delicious. It causes irreversible kidney damage to humans because of the poison orellanine. It only takes a mouthful or two and they’ll be searching for a suitable tissue match for you in a couple of weeks.
![Deadly Webcap - Cortinarius rubellus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Deadly-Webcap-Cortinarius-rubellus-The-Hall-of-Einar-1416-483x725.jpg)
Orellanine is similar in its chemistry to the powerful herbicide paraquat. Eating Deadly Webcaps is like drinking weedkiller.
![Deadly Webcap - Cortinarius rubellus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Deadly-Webcap-Cortinarius-rubellus-The-Hall-of-Einar-1388-544x725.jpg)
Take care out there.
Here’s the first mention of Cortinarius rubellus, in Mordecai Cubitt Cooke’s Grevillea from 1887.
![Deadly Webcap - Cortinarius rubellus - Mordecai Cubitt Cooke](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cortinarius-rubellus-The-Hall-of-Einar-1-725x230.jpg)
I love a bit of fungal history.