In article , Sacha wrote:

To be frank, I wonder, sometimes, why we bother to discuss this on here
so often. Over and over again we have people who come in asking for an
ID on fungi. I think them to be exceedingly unwise. They don't know
any of us personally and they know nothing about the degree of
expertise assumed. They're warned over and over again that trying to
ID from photos or descriptions is dangerous and that risk is involved
to a greater or lesser degree. Argument then ensues as to what the risk
is, whether the colour of the gills is x, y or z or the stem is thick
or thin and so forth. Almost invariably the OP comes back with the
answer that they've seen a picture in a book, a friend has told them,
their neighbour has eaten something similar, their great aunt's
gardener used to pick them on dewy mornings etc. The simple answer is,
if in doubt, don't eat it. If you have to ask whether it's safe, you
have to accept the risk that it isn't and it isn't right or fair to
make someone here responsible for your own foolhardiness. I say this
because the general consensus of opinion from the more experienced on
urg seems to be that without actually *seeing* the mushroom, in the
flesh, it is impossible to be 100% positive of what it is.

For the ones rather like field mushrooms, yes. That is why several
of us have said that it is much safer to eat things like the boleti,
where a good verbal description (and even half a clue on behalf of
the reader) IS adequate. You don't need much experience to be able
to understand verbal descriptions, but you do need some.

Actually, asking here is one of the saner things to do, because
most of the advice has been pretty reliable (and similar), most
importantly "Just looking like a field mushroom is not, repeat
NOT, enough - and nor are pictures in books."


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.