WEIRD FACTS ABOUT MUSHROOM | The weird facts database

A person who studies mushrooms and fungi is a mycologist.

If you eat them, you are a mycophagist; if you like them, you're a mycophile.

The Italian mycologist Bruno Cetti published descriptions and pictures of 2,147 types of mushroom.

Mushrooms differ from other plants in that they contain no chlorophyl.

Because of this, some would argue that they are not plants at all.

Most fatal cases of mushroom poisoning are caused by a variety called Amanita phalloides or Death Cap.

Roman Emperors Tiberius and Claudius, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Pope Clement II and King Charles V of France all died of mushroom poisoning.

The official state mushroom of Minnesota is the morel.

The official state mushroom of Oregon is the Pacific golden chanterelle.

There is a mushroom museum in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. It is open daily from 10am to 6pm.

China is the world's biggest mushroom producer, with an annual yield of about four million tonnes.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UK mushroom production was 67,626 tonnes in 2002, which is only half the 1994 figure.

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