Experts are warning people in Quebec not to eat wild mushrooms after a 61-year-old man died earlier this month from eating a toxic mushroom.

The man the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., area died, apparently after eating some Amanita Verusa.

Once eaten, the Amanita Verusa creates toxins that attack the liver. There's no antidote, and the toxins can kill within days, says Suha Jabaji, a professor of plant sciences at McGill University and mycologist.

Pickers beware

Amanita Verusa is one of the deadliest mushrooms commonly seen in Quebec, the mushroom expert says.

Ingestion can cause extreme damage to both the kidneys and liver. The victim won't feel any symptoms right away, but they will appear six to eight hours later, Jabaji says.

"It's a beautiful looking mushroom that, when you look at it, it's so pure and white that you cannot help but to pick it up," Jabaji says.

Doctors can save people who have ingested it approximately 50 per cent of the time.

This is the most popular time of year for gathering mushrooms in the woods. Quebec's poison control centre says it receives hundreds of calls from people who are worried they might have eaten toxic mushrooms.

Although guidebooks are available to help identify mushrooms, when it comes to eating them, guidebooks are not enough, Jabaji says.

"There are many look-alikes, and you don't want to play Russian roulette with your life," Jabaji says.

Deaths from eating mushrooms are rare in Quebec, says a spokesperson from Quebec's poison control centre, pointing out that it's best to avoid eating anything that grows in the wild.

"It's advisable not to do that until you are absolutely sure from an expert that you can eat the mushroom," she advises.

For information about mushroom hunting, Quebecers can call the Cercles des Mycologues at 514-872-7239.