Poisonous mushroom thin pig: photo and description

Mushroom pig is well known to mushroom pickers with experience and is very popular among culinary specialists. It can be started to be collected in the summer, and finished almost in late autumn. However, there is such a mushroom as a thin pig, which is very similar to edible, but is considered poisonous. This fruiting body is able to accumulate harmful substances in itself and synthesize the most dangerous poison called muscarin. It can be equated with poison red fly agaric.

Title thin pig (Paxillus involutus) means "bag or small bag." The definition in the Russian name arose because young meaty hats of this type of mushroom very much resemble pork ears.

The poisonous mushroom is a thin pig common in all countries where a temperate climate prevails. This fruiting body grows in mixed, deciduous, as well as coniferous forests. However, most often the poisonous mushroom prefers to grow on clarified glades, forest edges and on the outskirts of the marshland. Less often, pigs grow on the rhizomes of trees, which are twisted by a strong wind. We offer to see a photo of a thin porcini mushroom that grows in such conditions.

Where does the thin pig grow?

Many experienced mushroom pickers collect pigs and eat them. But novice lovers of the “silent hunt” are at a loss: is the squirrel edible or not? This mushroom is found in almost all regions of Russia and is characterized by massive fruiting and great similarity with edible sows. In many places, it is considered conditionally edible and is eaten after long soaking and boiling for 1 hour. But experts say that in fact all this does not correspond to the true state of affairs. In the mid-1990s, all sows officially began to be considered poisonous mushrooms. Their poison can lead to death from kidney failure.

Thin pig grows throughout Russia, as well as in Eastern, Southern and Central Europe. This fungus can be found even in young forests with a predominance of birch and oak, which are not even 10 years old. Sometimes they can settle on tree trunks in small groups. However, the thin piglet bears fruit very often and is characterized by a long fruiting period - from early July to mid-October.

In real conditions in the forest, when collecting mushrooms, it is very difficult to recognize a thin poisonous pig. Therefore, we suggest reading and, if possible, remembering the presented photo and description of the thin pig mushroom, so as not to expose itself and its loved ones to the negative effects of its poisons.

What a thin pig looks like (Paxillus involutus)

Latin name: Paxillus involutus.

Family: piggyback.

The Department: basidiomycota.

Grade: agaricomycetes.

Synonyms: a pig, a cow, a filly, a pig, a pig, a pig’s ear.

Hat: reaches a size of 10 to 20 cm in diameter, but more often the size does not exceed 15-17 cm. Young pigs have a slightly convex hat and curled edges. Instances of middle age have a flat and slightly indented hat, which in maturity becomes like a funnel. Color varies from olive to gray-brown. In rainy weather and in high humidity it becomes sticky and slippery.

Records: as such are absent.The hat has pseudo plates called Hymenophores.

Leg: has a length of not more than 10 cm, is about 2 cm in diameter. The surface is smooth, with a “velvety” sensation upon contact with the skin. The color is the same as the hat, sometimes a little lighter.

Pulp: at a young age, dense, thin and soft, and in adulthood, friable and wormy. If you break off a piece from the hat, the flesh immediately darkens.

Edibility: poisonous mushroom, with a break in any part of the mushroom, the flesh immediately becomes an unpleasant brown color and the smell of wood appears, more reminiscent of the smell of rot.

Spread: throughout Russia in mixed, deciduous and coniferous forests, preferring shaded, moist areas. Fruiting begins from June to mid-October.

We offer to watch a video showing the thin sow during the mushroom season:

In addition, the most common types of this poisonous fruiting body include not only a thin pig, but also a fat pig. Look at the photo of the difference between a thin and a thick pig:

It is worth noting that the pig is thick - a rare type of fungus found only in countries with a temperate climate. The main place for growth, she chooses coniferous forests, where many uprooted trees, rotten stumps and moss.

The shape of the hat is slightly different from the thin pig and looks more like an elongated tongue. It reaches a diameter of up to 20 cm, has a brown or brown color. The surface is velvety; in adulthood, it dries and cracks. The leg is short, with a fleecy coating, tight and offset to the edge of the cap.

These fungi begin bearing from the beginning of July and grow until the end of autumn, but are extremely rare. Sometimes they can grow on the ground, on tree roots and old stumps in the coniferous forest.

After reviewing the description of a thin pig and finding out what this poisonous mushroom looks like, you will never collect it. Remember that it is able to synthesize the dangerous poison muscarin, which is equivalent to the poison of red mushroom. In addition, the thin pig accumulates a huge amount of salts of heavy metals, as well as radioactive substances - copper and cesium, which leads to death.