THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996             TAG: 9608070396
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY KENNAN NEWBOLD, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

MAKE A MEAL OF BACKYARD MUSHROOMS? THINK AGAIN.

Has all the recent rain turned your lawn into a miniature mushroom forest? Well, don't even think about plucking the umbrella-shaped fungi from the grass and plunking them on a pizza.

Not all of them are edible.

``I wouldn't recommend eating them unless you're a real mushroom connoisseur,'' said Kevin Carr, who works at Gardens in a Flowerpot, a nursery on Little Creek Road in Norfolk.

Mushrooms proliferate after a good rain, Carr said, because they thrive in cool, damp weather. The moisture in the soil activates the mushrooms' spores - the reproductive cells from which new mushrooms grow. They tend to sprout wherever organic material, such as a fallen tree limb or leaves - is breaking down in the soil and providing nourishment.

The field mushroom that grows on lawns throughout North America is one of more than 2,000 nonpoisonous species. The problem is, a few other types that also could pop up on your lawn - including ones that look so similar to the field mushroom that it would take an expert to know the difference - contain toxins that can cause nausea, diarrhea, headaches and even death.

These are often referred to as toadstools, from the German ``todesstuhl,'' meaning ``death's stool.''

Distinguishing a poisonous mushroom from an edible one is difficult because no single test can tell them apart. What's more, edible and poisonous mushrooms can grow side by side.

The best advice, therefore, is to avoid eating any wild mushroom unless it has been identified by an expert as safe.

The Poison Control Center in Richmond estimates that 70 percent to 75 percent of reported mushroom poisonings happen to children under 6. So the center recommends teaching children who might consider sampling a mushroom to stomp on it instead.

Another approach is to simply leave the mushrooms in your yard alone and let nature run its course; they usually die and decay eight to 48 hours after reaching their mature height.

``They aren't doing any harm,'' Carr said. by CNB