Estonia Opens 64th Mushroom Exhibition at Natural History Museum
The Estonian Museum of Natural History has opened its 64th mushroom exhibition. Visitors will be shown edible and poisonous species, including mushrooms that can be mistakenly considered fit for consumption, ERR News reports.
Warning for mushroom pickers
The first exhibits of the exhibition were edible puffballs collected in the Mustamäe area. At the same time, museum specialists advise against picking mushrooms in cities and recommend choosing forests located farther from urban areas.
According to Liisa Johanna Lukk, communications manager at the Estonian Museum of Natural History, mushrooms growing in cities and along roads may contain heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Poisonous species
There are about 200 poisonous mushroom species in Estonia, 15 of which can be deadly. At the exhibition, visitors will be told which poisonous mushrooms can easily be confused with edible ones.
Exhibition curator Marja-Liisa Kämärä noted that the death cap can be confused with the green russula, as both mushrooms have a green cap. Important differences are located on the stem, so people are advised not to cut the mushroom but to carefully remove it completely from the moss.
The exhibition will run until September 20. It will be the museum's last mushroom exhibition in its current building before its planned move to new premises in the autumn.
