Edible
Golden Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibarius
Chanterelles have blunt, forked ridges that run down the stem instead of true gills, a pale spore print, and no veil. The deadly webcap has true gills and a rusty brown spore print.
Deadly Webcap
Cortinarius rubellus
Deadly
Also called deadly cortinarius, cortinarius speciosissimus.
The deadly webcap is an orange-brown Cortinarius of wet, mossy conifer forests. It contains orellanine, a toxin that destroys the kidneys, with symptoms that can take days to weeks to appear. Poisonings have followed its confusion with chanterelles.
Cortinarius rubellus
Photo coming
The tell
Orange-brown, pointed cap, rusty brown gills, and yellowish bands of veil on the stem, in mossy conifer woods.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Conical to bell-shaped, then flattening with a pointed central bump. Orange-brown to tawny or rusty brown, dry, with fine fibers or tiny scales.
- Underside
- Gills attached to the stem, fairly widely spaced, yellowish brown at first and then rusty cinnamon. Young gills are covered by a cobweb-like veil (cortina).
- Stem
- Orange-brown to tawny, often thicker toward the base, with yellowish bands or zigzags of veil remnants. No true ring.
- Flesh
- Pale yellowish to orange-brown.
- Spore print
- Rusty brown.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 3 inches wide (2.5 to 8 cm); stem 2 to 4 inches tall (5 to 10 cm).
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Wet conifer forests with spruce and pine, often in moss or sphagnum bogs.
- Grows on
- Soil and moss, mycorrhizal with the roots of living conifers.
- Season
- Late summer through fall.
- Range
- Northern and mountain conifer forests; North American records are scattered and it is considered uncommon.
Lookalikes
What the deadly webcap gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
EdibleYellowfoot
Craterellus tubaeformis
Yellowfoot has a hollow yellow stem, a funnel-shaped brownish cap and blunt, forked ridges instead of gills. Its spore print is pale.
DeadlyDeadly Galerina
Galerina marginata
Also small, brown and rusty-spored, but the galerina grows on rotting wood and has a membranous ring. It contains amatoxins rather than orellanine.
More side-by-side comparisons
Edibility
What the field guides say
Deadly
The deadly webcap contains orellanine, a toxin that damages the kidneys. Field guides record that symptoms are delayed by two days to three weeks after the meal, beginning with nausea, thirst, headache and back pain, and progressing to kidney failure. Many patients need long-term dialysis or a kidney transplant. Cooking does not destroy orellanine.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the deadly webcap
Is the deadly webcap poisonous?
Yes. It contains orellanine, which destroys kidney tissue. Symptoms can take from two days to three weeks to appear, by which time kidney damage is often permanent.
What does Cortinarius rubellus look like?
It has an orange-brown, pointed cap, rusty brown gills and an orange-brown stem with yellowish bands of veil tissue. Young specimens have a cobweb-like veil over the gills, and the spore print is rusty brown.
Why is orellanine poisoning so dangerous?
The long delay means people rarely connect their illness to the meal, and by the time kidney problems appear, the damage is often done. Field guides record many cases ending in dialysis or transplant.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Cortinarius rubellus, Deadly Webcap
First Nature
- Cortinarius rubellus
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
Related species
Toxic
Poison Pie
Hebeloma crustuliniforme
Pale tan, sticky cap; in damp weather the gill edges carry tiny beads of water, and it smells of radish.
Inedible
Witch's Hat
Hygrocybe conica
A pointed red, orange or yellow waxy cap that turns black where handled and with age.
Lookalike
Violet Webcap
Cortinarius violaceus
Dark violet all over, with a finely scaly cap, a cobweb veil when young and a rusty brown spore print.
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