Beware the world's most dangerous mushroom

Washington

THEY sprouted up in abundance after heavy rains, poking up through California lawns and forests, appearing harmless to some of those who found them - as though they'd make a good meal. And so they do, at first. The "death cap" mushroom is said to be delicious.

A new federal report detailed what came after consumption for 14 people who sampled the Bay Area's bloom of death cap - or amanita phalloides - last December: Violent nausea, in all cases. For some days later, organ damage as the death caps' potent toxins ravaged the liver.