The recent wet weather can be blamed for many things, but one upside has been the explosion of wild mushrooms throughout the Illawarra.
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And while residents are being warned about the potential danger they pose if ingested, ecologist and fungi specialist Alison Pouliot says they are a sight to behold.
Ms Pouliot, who travels throughout Australia documenting fungi and once produced a free booklet for Shellharbour Council, says the Illawarra is a great place for spotting some of the most beautiful varieties of mushrooms around.
She said three stunning varieties of mushrooms were found in the Illawarra - the ghost fungus, which is luminous at night, the pixies parosol, which is tiny and grows on old logs, and the classic fly agaric mushroom, made famous in children's books with its standout red cap.
And now is the perfect time to spot them, according to Ms Pouliot, with the recent rain and cooler weather resulting in an earlier than normal explosion of mushrooms.
"Usually, there are two things that make fungi produce their mushrooms," she said. "First you need rains so the soil gets really moist and then you need the temperature to start to drop slightly, but not too much, so the mushrooms can pop up.
"So when you get the rains like we have had recently you get this incredible flash of fungi coming up."
Ms Pouliot said part of the fungi, the mycelium, actually lives under the ground all year round and its flower - the mushroom - is the reproductive part that pops up when the conditions are right.
But while Ms Pouliot urged residents to get out and explore the Illawarra for mushrooms, she warned only those who were certain about what they were doing should consider harvesting them to eat.
"It's a real skill to know what you are doing," Ms Pouliot said. "I would not recommend anyone goes out and picks their own mushrooms unless you have a really good knowledge of not just the type you can eat but what I call the 'doppelganger' - the one it looks like that is really poisonous.
"One of the most common ones looks just like the field mushroom. It is called the yellow staining mushroom and while it is not deadly it can make you very sick."
Ms Pouliot's comments come as NSW Poisons Information Centre warned parents to check their gardens and backyards for wild mushrooms before letting children play, after heavy rains caused a spike in growth of potentially fatal fungi varieties.
Illawarra residents have reported numerous sightings of wild mushrooms and toadstools throughout the area in recent days, but parents in particular are being urged to take extra care to ensure a toxic variety is not ingested by a child.
The NSW Poisons Information Centre said it had received 73 calls regarding mushroom exposures between January 1 and March 3 this year, including 45 accidental exposures, of which more than 80 per cent involved children aged under five.
Sixteen calls related to adults who ate wild mushrooms as food, and 10 calls were for adults who ingested mushrooms for recreational purposes.
Wild mushrooms can cause serious poisoning, including nausea and vomiting, and can lead to liver and kidney damage, which can be fatal.
NSW Poisons Information Centre senior specialist Genevieve Adamo said the best way to prevent accidental mushroom exposures in children was to simply remove them if you see them.
"Wild mushrooms can pop up overnight, so it is really important parents check their gardens and backyards regularly, particularly after rainfall, and remove and dispose of any mushrooms before letting children out to play," Ms Adamo said.
"If a child does accidentally ingest a mushroom, even if they aren't showing symptoms, parents should call the Poisons Information Centre because early treatment is vital."
The centre said adults should never pick and eat wild mushrooms.
"Eating wild mushrooms is never worth the risk," Ms Adamo said. "Cooking or boiling wild mushrooms also does not make them safe to eat, which is why we strongly advise against foraging for mushrooms and encourage people to only eat store-bought mushrooms."
Details: Phone the NSW Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 or in an emergency phone triple-0.
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