EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Explanation:  Emerging from decaying organic matter on the forest floor is this cluster of Lepiota mushrooms, here in the Upper Amazon Basin of northeast lowland Bolivia.   

Hungry?  Beware.  Some lepiotas are poisonous.  For example, in North America occur some 100 lepiota species, and because some of the smaller lepiotas are dangerously poisonous, you should avoid all of them, even though others are edible.  In other reports, some Lepiota species are said to be psychotropic, but bioassay analysis has refuted this claim (Akers 1992).

Acknowledgment: Thanks to mycologist Dr. Thom O'Dell for identifying this mushroom.

Information:  Akers, B.P. 1992. Peele's Lepiota: An identification and a clarification. Mycotaxon 43:461-469.