Never eat a wild mushroom identified only from a website, a book or an app. Have every find checked in person by an expert, such as a mycological society.
Identification
The deadly webcap has a conical to bell-shaped cap with a pointed umbo, tawny orange-brown to reddish brown, dry and finely scaly. The gills are thick and fairly distant, ochre-orange when young and turning rusty brown as the spores ripen; the spore print is rusty brown. The stem is relatively slender, orange-brown, and typically marked with irregular yellowish bands or zigzag belts left by the veil, which are among the most useful field features. A fine, cobweb-like cortina is visible in young specimens.
Older names include Cortinarius speciosissimus and C. orellanoides. Microscopically the spores are broadly ellipsoid to subglobose and warty. Like its relative C. orellanus, it can only be identified reliably by specialists, and many harmless and poisonous webcaps share its colours.
Habitat and ecology
Cortinarius rubellus is ectomycorrhizal with conifers, especially spruce and pine. It grows in wet, acidic, nutrient-poor forests, often among sphagnum and other mosses, bilberry and heather, sometimes at the edges of bogs. It is widespread in northern Europe, including Scandinavia and the British Isles, and in the mountains of central Europe, and fruits from late summer to autumn, exactly when funnel chanterelles and other conifer-forest edibles are being collected.
Uses and importance
This species has no food use. Like C. orellanus, it contains orellanine, a heat-stable bipyridine compound that concentrates in the kidneys and destroys cells of the renal tubules. Cooking and drying do not remove it. The deadly webcap is responsible for poisonings in northern Europe and has repeatedly been eaten in mistake for chanterelles or funnel chanterelles. It is studied in toxicology, and orellanine's selective action on kidney cells has been explored in laboratory research without any established medical use.
Safety and edibility
Deadly poisonous. Orellanine poisoning has a very long latency, usually about 2 days to 3 weeks. Early symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headache, intense thirst, chills and back or flank pain, followed by changes in urine output and kidney failure. Damage can be irreversible, and some patients need lifelong medical support. The delay makes the connection with a mushroom meal easy to miss.
If anyone may have eaten this species or any rusty-spored orange-brown mushroom, seek emergency medical help immediately, even without symptoms, and tell doctors about the mushroom meal even if it was days or weeks ago. Bring leftovers or photos. No preparation makes it safe.
If you suspect mushroom poisoning, call your local emergency number or poison centre straight away, even before any symptoms appear, and keep the remains of the mushrooms.
Look-alikes
The classic and tragic confusion is with the funnel chanterelle (Craterellus tubaeformis), which grows in the same mossy conifer woods. Funnel chanterelles have a hollow, yellow stem, a brownish cap with a central hole and blunt, forked, vein-like ridges instead of gills, and a pale spore print. The golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) is egg-yolk yellow throughout, with similar ridges. Cortinarius orellanus is equally toxic but grows mainly with broadleaf trees and has a less pointed cap. Never eat any mushroom with true gills and a rusty brown spore print unless an expert has confirmed it in person.
Around the world
The deadly webcap is mainly found in northern and montane Europe, where it is often common in spruce and pine forests. In the countries where funnel chanterelles are a popular wild food, poison information services regularly warn about this confusion during the autumn season.
