Toxic Death Caps.
Director of the Canberra Hospital Emergency Department Dr Michael Hall said Death Cap mushrooms often grow near established oak trees and are found when there is warm, wet weather.
"In Canberra this usually occurs in autumn, but recent summer rain means Death Caps can be found growing in Canberra," Dr Hall said.
"The fully-grown Death Cap mushroom cap is silky smooth, and its colour varies from white to greenish-brown. The gills are white – unlike the pink or brown gills of the common field mushroom. The stem is white to pale yellow-green.
"High on the stem is a skirt-like white ring, which is sometimes missing. The bottom of the stem emerges from a white cup, which is partly buried in the soil.”
Dr Hall said the small button Death Cap can be very difficult to distinguish from an edible mushroom.
“People should should not eat any mushroom unless they can be absolutely certain that it is not poisonous. It can be difficult for even experienced collectors to tell poisonous and safe species of wild mushroom apart.”
“So unless people are completely sure, they should avoid any white-gilled mushroom.”
The restaurant where the dish of the deadly mushrooms was prepared as part of a private dinner on New Year's Eve is awaiting permission to from ACT Health to reopen its doors.
The bistro in the Harmonie German Club in the Canberra suburb of Narrabundah has been closed since New Year's Day, after the restaurant's 38-year-old chef Lui Jun and 52-year-old kitchen hand Tsou Hsiang died from eating a stir-fry containing the mushrooms which rank as the world's most deadly.
In a statement ACT Health reassured people that the meal had been a private one and that there had been no exposure to the general public to the mushrooms.
It confirmed there is no risk of the transmission of the toxins through cooking implements or pots.
