Green-Spored Parasol

Safety first. The green-spored parasol (Chlorophyllum molybdites) is a poisonous mushroom. It is a stomach-and-gut irritant: after eating it people get nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, usually within about 30 minutes to a few hours, and in a few people, especially children and vulnerable people, fluid loss can be severe enough to cause shock that needs intensive care. [1] [2] [3] It is not known for the liver failure of the death cap, but the early stomach symptoms can look the same as the first stage of the amatoxin mushrooms, which is why doctors treat any wild-mushroom meal seriously. [2] If anyone may have eaten this or any wild mushroom you cannot be sure about, call Poison Help now at 1-800-222-1222 (US) and do not wait for symptoms. [6] In other countries call your local poison centre or emergency number. Call 911 (or your local emergency number) for collapse, a seizure, trouble breathing or if the person cannot be woken. See Mushroom Poisoning: Symptoms and Urgent Help.

This page is a safety profile. It does not help anyone identify a wild mushroom. Do not identify wild mushrooms from text, photos or apps; even very experienced gatherers can find it hard to decide whether a mushroom is safe. [6] It is not psychoactive and has no proven health use.

What it is

Chlorophyllum molybdites (Wikidata Q146693) is a large mushroom that grows in lawns and grassy fields in warm regions; it has been described in tropical and subtropical areas since the early 1900s and is now spreading, for example along the east coast of Sicily. [2] [7] The University of Florida extension service calls it the most common cause of mushroom poisoning in the United States, but it cites a 1992 source that we could not check, so treat that as a widely repeated statement, not a current count. [1] Its relatives, the parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) and the shaggy parasol (C. rhacodes), have their own pages; the first is an edible species, the second is eaten cooked but upsets some people.

The toxin and how it acts

• The toxin has not been fully identified. The Florida extension service describes a stomach-and-gut irritant found through the whole mushroom, strongest in the cap. [1]
• Older work (1974, quoted by the Italian authors) described a large protein that was toxic to mice; the same authors say the toxin of a mushroom that causes harm after cooked meals is likely heat-stable. [2] The Florida sheet quotes a result that the toxin lost strength after 30 minutes at 70 degrees Celsius, so cooked mushrooms may be less toxic. [1] The two sources disagree. In practice, people are poisoned after cooked meals (see below). Poison-centre advice is that cooking, canning, pickling, freezing and drying do not remove the toxins from poisonous mushrooms. [6]
• It is called a "gastrointestinal irritant" mushroom, a different group from the amatoxin, orellanine or gyromitrin mushrooms. [2]

What the reports show: symptom timeline

How to read this: these are case series and surveillance counts, not a measure of how dangerous one mouthful is. Reactions differ between people, and published reports give a range of onset from 30 minutes to 7 hours. [1] [2] [3]

Treatment as described by authoritative sources

There is no home remedy, and you should not try to treat this yourself. The poison centre will tell you what to do. The Florida sheet says there is no known antidote; treatment is fluids by mouth or by vein, medicines for vomiting and cramps in mild cases, and evaluation at a health centre or emergency room. [1] In the Sicily series, people received fluids and gut-decontamination measures in hospital, and three were treated under a protocol for amatoxin mushrooms until an expert confirmed which mushroom it was, after which they went home on day 2 and recovered fully. [2] Doses are for clinicians and are not given here.

Why early stomach symptoms need a call

The Italian authors point out that watery diarrhoea from this mushroom can last 12 to 24 hours, and that this can hide the start of the long-delay illness caused by amatoxin mushrooms. [2] Do not assume that "it is only the stomach one" without expert help. The poisoning page of this site explains why you should not wait for symptoms. [6]

Which edible mushrooms it is confused with in poisoning reports

Names only, from the reports. The Italian case series says it may be mistaken for the parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera), and mentions Agaricus guadalupensis as another mushroom of the same habitat. In that series, the people had eaten mushrooms they took to be Macrolepiota procera. [2] The Florida sheet names the parasol and the shaggy parasols (C. rhacodes, C. olivieri, C. brunneum). [1] This is a statement about reports, not a way to tell mushrooms apart.

Lab data and chemistry

This section reports what laboratories have recorded in this species. It is not a safe-level table. Wikidata (CC0, the open knowledge base behind the LOTUS project) lists 3 compounds for Chlorophyllum molybdites, with no paper references attached in the file we received. [7] None of them is the irritant that causes the poisoning. A listing means "reported in at least one study of this species".

A. What the laboratory literature reports in this mushroom

B. Measured values. USDA FoodData Central has no entry for this mushroom (it is not a food). We found no open measured toxin content (for example mg per kg) and no nutrient values.

C. What the numbers do and do not mean

• Without a measured toxin content we cannot say how much it takes to cause illness, and reactions differ between people. [1]


• A compound listed on Wikidata is not the cause of the illness.


• Heat results from old laboratory tests do not make a cooked meal safe: poisonings follow cooked meals. [2] [3]


• This is a wild poisonous species: there is no supplement, extract or mycelium product.

Related pages

• Mushroom poisoning symptoms and urgent help
• Parasol mushroom
• Shaggy parasol
• Death cap
• Cooking edible mushrooms safely