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Toxic☠️ To avoid

🍄 Livid pinkgill

Entoloma sinuatum · Entolomataceae

🌳 Temperate Europe
🧠 To remember it“Flour smell, trap ahead” — the exact same deceptive scent links the edible and the toxic in this genus.
Livid pinkgill — Entoloma sinuatum

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Large greyish-white to cream mushroom growing in autumn under broadleaf trees, often confused with the sweetbread mushroom (the "Miller"), a popular edible with a similar mealy smell. Responsible for severe gastrointestinal syndrome that can prove fatal in frail, elderly, or dehydrated people due to massive fluid loss.

  1. greyish-beige to cream cap, fleshy, margin initially rolled in then wavy (sinuous)
  2. gills initially yellowish, turning salmon pink at maturity (pink spore print typical of the Entoloma genus)
  3. stout, whitish stem, without ring or volva
  4. mealy smell (fresh flour) when bruised, similar to that of the edible sweetbread mushroom — a classic trap
Sizecap 6-15 cm, stem 5-10 cm
Floweringautumn
Habitatdeciduous forests, especially under oaks, on calcareous soils

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Sweetbread mushroom (the "Miller"), popular edible (Clitopilus prunulus)none for the sweetbread mushroom, classic and well-documented confusion

To tell them apart: the sweetbread mushroom is distinctly smaller, with decurrent gills (running down the stem) whereas the livid pinkgill has notched gills; the pink spore print develops in both genera, making distinction tricky for a beginner — expert advice recommended

☠️ What kills

nomGastrointestinal toxins not fully characterized (lividin mentioned in older literature, mechanism still debated)
dose letale estimeerarely fatal in healthy adults, but massive fluid loss can be fatal in elderly, very young, or frail people due to severe dehydration (approx)
delai30 min to 3 h
symptomesvery violent and prolonged vomiting and diarrhoea, intense abdominal pain, severe dehydration that can lead to collapse in vulnerable individuals
antidoteno specific antidote; intensive rehydration, sometimes intravenously in a hospital setting
morts documenteesyes, particularly in elderly or frail people who were not rehydrated in time following massive fluid loss

First steps : Call a poison control centre at the first sign of severe digestive symptoms after eating mushrooms, especially for an elderly or frail person. Drink plenty of fluids to compensate for losses while waiting for help, if the person can tolerate it. Keep a sample of the consumed mushrooms.

Sources (3)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.