Gallery: Estonia's annual mushroom exhibition back with over 140 species
The Estonian Museum of Natural History's 63rd Mushroom Exhibition opened late last week, showcasing over 140 mushroom species — including four deadly poisonous ones.
The Tallinn museum' annual Mushroom Exhibition, Estonia's longest-running, is always changing. Because mushrooms spoil quickly, staff and volunteers regularly forage in the forest — giving visitors a unique selection each day.
Visitors on opening day could see the four most common deadly species: the European destroying angel (Amanita virosa, or valge kärbseseen in Estonian), the death cap (Amanita phalloides, or roheline kärbseseen), the funeral bell or deadly skullcap (Galerina marginata, or jahutanuk) and the deadly webcap (Cortinarius rubellus, or kühmvöödik).
This year, for the first time, four cultivated species from Shroomwell's Tõrva mushroom farm were also on display, including the lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus, or lõvilakk-korallnarmik), chaga (Inonotus obliquus, or must pässik), lacquered bracket or reishi (Ganoderma lucidum, or lakkvaabik) and turkey tail (Trametes versicolor, or libliktagel).
Museum director Heidi Jõks said the exhibition plays a key role in educating the public about lookalike mushroom species, such as the edible wood mushroom or woodland agaricus (Agaricus silvicola, or metsšampinjon) and its deadly doppelganger, the European destroying angel.
The Estonian Museum of Natural History's Mushroom Exhibition is the country's longest-running museum show and one of the longest-standing mushroom exhibitions in the world. Since its debut in 1946, it has only been canceled a handful of times.
The foraging effort behind the exhibition is extensive, with dozens of volunteers pitching in. Mushroom experts often use spoons to dig up entire specimens to avoid accidentally mixing up poisonous species with edible ones — although when foraging for the museum exhibition, poisonous ones are collected as well.
Curator Jana-Maria Habicht noted that even experienced foragers can confuse similar-looking species, especially after rain washes off identifying spots.
It's also important to be able to positively identify various edible mushrooms, as certain species may only be edible in specific circumstances.
For example, the club-foot, or club-footed clitocybe (Ampulloclitocybe clavipes, or nuijalg-lehtrik) is edible, "but it should never be consumed together with alcohol, as that can cause serious poisoning," Habicht warned.
"After the exhibition, we return all the mushrooms to the forest," Jõks added.
The 63rd annual Mushroom Exhibition at the Estonian Museum of Natural History in Tallinn runs through this Sunday, September 21, with special events continuing from Wednesday.
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Editor: Kaspar Viilup, Annika Remmel, Aili Vahtla
