Chalanda Lasenby, age 8, of Gary, Ind., for her question:
HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A MUSHROOM IS POISONOUS?
Mushrooms belong to a family of plants called fungi. You'll find them growing in decaying vegetable matter, often hidden under a layer of leaves or moss. The name .mushroom, along with its old fashioned term mushromp, is taken from the French word for moss. Mushrooms and toadstools are not put into two separate groups by the botanists.
Did you know there are about 38,000 different species of mushrooms? Many are in the familiar umbrella like shape but others grow in branching formations. Colors go almost the full range of the rainbow: you'll find mushrooms that are brown, gray, bright red, yellow, orange, lavender, pink and pure white.
People tend to call them mushrooms if they are edible and toadstools if they are poisonous. An edible kind, however, can also have a poisonous relative which belongs to the same genus.
Only a skilled person who has full knowledge of the plant should be the one to determine whether the mushroom is safe or contains deadly poisons. Children should, basically, assume that all mushrooms they may find in the wilds are poisonous, and they should certainly not eat them.
Two members of the Amanita group of mushrooms, called the death cup and the fly, are the most dreaded of the poisonous mushrooms.
The death cup can be found in the woods from June until the fall. Its poison works much like a rattlesnake's venom: it separates the corpuscles of the blood from the serum. The mushroom has white gills, white spores and a fatal poison cup around its stem. While a safe plant will have brown gills, brown spores and no cup, many mistakes can be made if the poisonous mushroom is picked in its button stage when not all of the danger signs can be seen.
The fly mushroom, which is red, yellow or orange, can be found in the woods or along roadsides. It can be recognized by a scaly cap and stem, a deep frill at the top, white spores and a bulblike base.
Let this be your guide in picking out mushrooms: let the expert make the selection.
Since the early days of our history men have eaten and enjoyed mushrooms. They are considered to be table delicacies and can be creamed, fried, baked, broiled, stewed or eaten raw in salads. They can be obtained in your market either fresh, canned or dried.
Mushrooms are made up of about 88 percent water. Nutritionists tell us they are about as nourishing as cabbage.