An Australian woman has been found guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch.
In 2023, Erin Patterson served her husband’s family beef wellingtons, which were later found to have contained death cap mushrooms.
While Patterson found these mushrooms on the other side of the world, you might be wondering if they can be found in Ireland.
Bill O’Dea, who studied fungi at University College Dublin and is now a mycophagist (someone interested in fungi), says that Ireland is a “fungophobic” society.
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“In general, Irish people have been afraid of mushrooms. There’s only one that we eat and that’s the field mushroom.”
In other parts of Europe, he notes the historical “trading up and down with other cultures” means that there is more of an acceptance of eating different kinds of mushrooms.
What is a death cap mushroom?
Amanita phalloides, commonly known as death cap mushrooms are the world’s most toxic mushrooms. They can cause kidney and liver failure hours after consumption.
Can they be found in Ireland?
Yes, the death cap is fairly common across Ireland and mainland Europe. It can also be found in North America and Australia. O’Dea notes there are “loads around Wicklow”.
How do I spot one?
Death cap mushrooms look similar to several edible mushroom species, which makes them particularly dangerous.
O’Dea says they typically have white gills, which are the thin structures on the underside of the mushroom’s cap. They also have a white stem with a ring around it.
He says that while identifying mushrooms with guide books can be helpful, “some of them cannot be particularly accurate.”
He advises people to not “eat any mushroom unless it’s identified as safe to do so by an expert”. One way people can become more familiar with mushroom types is by going “on a mushroom hunt with experts.”
[ Mushroom hunting in Ireland: You really need to know what you’re doingOpens in new window ]
Is the death cap the only dangerous mushroom in Ireland?
No. O’Dea names many other harmful mushrooms in Ireland, including the destroying angel, the deadly webcap and the false morel, all of which can cause death.
“There are thousands of mushrooms in Ireland – up to 15,000. Of those there’s probably 50 that are poisonous, but of those probably eight of them are deadly” he says.
There’s a particularly “devious” mushroom found in Ireland, the brown roll-rim, which O’Dea notes can kill someone after they have eaten it a few times. It works by stimulating an autoimmune reaction, which leads to the body attacking its own red blood cells.
