Cortinarius speciosissimus: The cause of renal failure in two young men

✍ Scribed by R. Watling

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 521 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0301-486X
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00468082

✦ Synopsis

A full illustrated description of Cortinarius speciosissimus K0hner & Romagnesi is offered; a map of the distribution of this agaric in the British Isles accompanies the text. A key to those species related to C. speciosissmus and suspected of being poisonous is given in an appendix.

introduction Materials

Poisoning by agarics (mushrooms and toadstools) in Britain is a relatively rare occurrence, and only once has a case been shown conclusively to be caused by a member of the very large and worldwide genus Cortinarius. Short et al. (24) have documented the medical aspects of this poisoning and compared the details with continental cases of poisoning by Cortinarius speciosissimus K0hner & Romagnesi. The British poisoning by this fungus occurred during the autumn of 1979 and as a result two of the three persons involved required kidney transplants. The transplantations have been successful and apparently both the patients have made a full recovery.

No full description of C. speciosissimus occurs in English except for an account of its most important characters in tabular form (20), in a publication long out of print. The present communication, which is based both on several fresh collections from Argyllshire, Inverness-shire, Perthshire and Sutherland, and dried material now housed in Aberdeen University (Botany Department), Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (E) and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K), is offered to alleviate this problem.