Sweet-smelling fungi with sinister name at centre of Australia’s mushroom murders

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A death cap mushroom is easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and has a pleasant taste when used in cooking.

PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY – An innocuous-looking mushroom with a sweet smell and a sinister name lay at the centre of Australian Erin Patterson’s triple murder conviction on July 7.

Patterson

was found guilty

The 50-year-old denied the accusations, saying the hearty meal was

contaminated by accident

Throughout a headline-grabbing trial spanning more than two months, experts have dissected the brown-and-white fungi in forensic detail.

Death caps – or Amanita phalloides – are responsible for around 90 per cent of all fungus-related fatalities, making them the deadliest mushrooms in the world.

The brown-and-white sporing bodies are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a pleasant taste when used in cooking.

But they are saturated with deadly chemicals known as amatoxins, toxicologist Dimitri Gerostamoulos told Patterson’s trial.

“They can lead to someone experiencing symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting, feeling really unwell,” Dr Gerostamoulos told the jury. “And they progressively get worse if the toxins are not removed.”

“They progress to tissue necrosis, organ failure and can obviously lead to death if not treated appropriately,” he added.

Three of Patterson’s guests died of organ failure a week after unknowingly eating death cap mushrooms baked into individual portions of beef Wellington.

“It was very apparent that this was not survivable,” intensive care