Content
Scale alder (Pholiota alnicola) or alder moth is a bright yellow or orange mushroom containing toxic substances in its composition. The lamellar mushroom is a member of the Stropharia family, belongs to the poisonous, grows on hemp or weakened deciduous trees, more often on alder.
Description of alder scales
Alder scale is a common fungus in deciduous forests. It grows in intergrowths, forms dense families that completely cover the area of wood. Young specimens are yellow. If the mycelium is located in a shaded place, then as the mushroom matures, the color becomes lemon, then it acquires a rich orange color. In the open, the fruiting body is beige with ocher spots on the cap.
Description of the hat
Alder flake is a small mushroom. The diameter of the cap in mature specimens does not exceed 5 cm.
Description of the alder moth hat:
- Young mushrooms have a regular round shape. In the more mature, it is cylindrical. At the time of maturation of the scale, the cap becomes prostrate, the edges are concave with even or torn remnants of the film coating.
- The surface is colored unevenly, the central part is darker. The outer side is strewn with small, well-fixed scales, which can only be distinguished by close examination.
- The protective film is dense, oily, slippery even at low humidity.
- Spore-bearing plates are densely arranged, they are even, with a clear border near the fruit stem. Painted yellow, then light orange with a brown tint.
- The pulp is fragile, yellow, very thin, with a pungent, sugary-sweet odor and a bitter taste.
Leg description
The scaly leg is short - up to 4 cm, cylindrical, erect or slightly curved in the middle.
Thinner at the top than at the base. Colored unevenly, dark brown near the mycelium, light yellow or orange from the middle, does not differ in tone from the surface of the cap. The structure is rigid, fibrous, solid. Lightly felt coated surface.
The edibility of the alder moth
Scale attracts attention with amicable growth and bright color of the fruit body. The mushrooms are all of equal size and height with clean caps. These are all the advantages of the species. Scale has a bitter, burning taste that lasts after cooking, with an unpleasant, ethereal, sweet odor that cannot be eliminated either.
The chemical composition contains toxic compounds that can cause poisoning with severe symptoms, but the concentration of toxins for humans is not fatal.
Poisoning symptoms, first aid
Cases of poisoning with alder flake are extremely rare, the fruit body should not be consumed in any form.With intoxication, the symptoms appear after 2 hours and gradually increase:
- mild nausea;
- then the headache begins;
- continuous vomiting joins the symptoms;
- there is pain and pain in the stomach, sweating;
- supplements the signs of diarrhea poisoning.
An increase in body temperature is possible. If you do not take action in a timely manner, the body is threatened with dehydration and complications in the kidneys, heart or liver. It is impossible to remove toxins from the body at home; you need to contact the nearest medical institution or call an ambulance. Before providing qualified assistance, you can alleviate the symptoms:
- Make a weak solution of manganese and wash the stomach.
- Sorbents are accepted: white or activated carbon, "Polysorb".
- You cannot stop diarrhea if the symptom has not yet manifested itself, they drink laxatives or wash the intestines with an enema with manganese.
- For chills, take a hot bath or wrap themselves in a blanket.
Where and how it grows
Alder flakes are found in all regions, they feel comfortable in temperate and warm climates, the main condition for growth is a humid environment. It belongs to saprophytes, parasitizes deciduous deadwood, stumps or weakened trees, appears in late summer and grows until mid-October. Forms dense colonies, never grows alone. The main cluster is Central Russia and the Ural region.
Doubles and their differences
The alder scale has no recognized counterparts, but outwardly it looks like a moth seroplate.
The growth season for the species is the same. The external similarity is also obvious. But honey fungus is not a saprophyte; it grows on a mossy and leafy cushion. The hat is yellow or light brown, the leg is hollow without a felt covering. The main distinguishing feature of the flake is that the plates of the false foam are gray in color with a light blue or steel tint. The surface of the cap is dry, without scales. The false froth has a pleasant smell and taste, the species is edible.
Conclusion
Alder flakes are an inedible toxic fungus that can cause serious poisoning. Grows in mixed forests on deadwood trunks and stumps. It can only grow in symbiosis with trees. Forms dense colonies, has a bright attractive color. The taste is bitter, pungent, unpleasant.
