Green-cracked russula

⚠️ Toxic look-alike

Never eat this mushroom unless you are certain it is not its toxic look-alike.

The death cap, the deadliest of the amanitas, also has a green cap: every year, foragers confuse them. The green-cracking russula has a verdigris cap cracked into small plates, like crocodile skin, white gills, and a short white stem that snaps like chalk, with no ring or volva. The death cap has a smooth cap, olive green to yellowish, often marked with fine radiating fibers, a skirt-like ring under the cap and a sac-like volva at the base of the stem, which must be dug out of the soil to be seen. Its first signs appear only 6 to 24 hours after the meal, when the liver is already damaged. Have every harvest checked by a pharmacist or a mycologist.

If in the slightest doubt, leave it. If you feel unwell after eating it, even several hours later, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or 911.