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EDITORIAL S ince my previous editorial, after saying that I had not seen a bolete ‘piggy- backing’ on another bolete, a number of people sent me photos of this phenomenon. Perhaps the most striking was the one shown below (Fig. 1) from Martyn Ainsworth. A second, complete fruitbody of Boletus edulis is growing from the cap of a larger specimen beneath. My thanks to all who contacted me! A s I write this (early May) there is an article on the BBC website concerning the hidden menace of the tick-borne Lyme Disease. This disease is caused by species of the bacterium Borrelia. Official estimates put the number of UK cases at around 3,000 per annum but Lyme disease charities estimate it could be as high as 15,000 annually because of undiagnosed cases. Many people are still unaware of the symptoms: usually a tick bite is followed by a reddish, bull’s eye rash, accompanied by flu-like fatigue and discomfort. Treatment in the early stages is by antibiotics and is very successful, but cases that have not been diagnosed and remain untreated can cause problems for months and years afterwards and be difficult to treat. Because it can resemble other illnesses it may well be mis-diagnosed also. Having lived in America for six years where the disease is very common I found that people and GPs there are very aware of it and there are often posters and advertising to alert people in doctors’ surgeries etc. Britain appears slower to realise that the disease is here and is now quite widespread wherever tick-bearing animals such as deer and mice are found. So, when you go mushrooming pay attention to tick bites, do a body search for the tiny ticks which like to lodge in crevices, between fingers etc when you return home and report any odd symptoms as soon as possible. For more information on this issue see the NHS site: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Lyme -disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx S ticking with the BBC, their breakfast news programme on 10th May (still accessible on the BBC website: search for “fungi”) featured an interview with chef and forager Mark Wright concerning the dangers of eating wild mushrooms. This was stimulated by the tragic death of a woman in Somerset after eating Amanita phalloides in November of last year. All in all it was quite a good interview and they even showed the correct photo of a Death Cap. All too often newspapers etc get their photos mixed up, usually because they get them from picture agencies who have little idea if the identification is correct or not. Foraging for wild fungi is increasingly popular and it cannot be stressed enough that a single mistake could be your last… Only eat what is positively identified by someone who knows what they are doing, and as Mark Wright said in the interview, the best way is to stick to species which cannot be mistaken such as the Giant Puffball etc. Enjoy your picking and eating but please be safe! 74 Vol 14 (3) Geoffrey Kibby Fig. 1. Boletus edulis carrying a second specimen. Photo © Martyn Ainsworth doi:10.1016/j.fldmyc.2013.06.002
