Donal Hickey: Extreme care is needed when foraging for mushrooms

We’re told at least 30 species of mushroom here are poisonous. They can cause stomach upset, nausea, vomiting, dehydration, or hallucinations (from the ‘magic’ variety) — and can be fatal

Some of the images in ‘Fungi of Killarney National Park’. Researched and produced by Louis O’Toole and published by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

October is a premium month for picking wild mushrooms and there seems to be an abundant crop this year, judging from personal observation and the comments of readers.

The recent, globally-publicised case in Australia, in which a 50-year-old woman received a life sentence for murdering three relatives with a toxic mushroom meal, underlined the dangers of poisoning from eating certain mushrooms.