The Sickener / Russula emetica

We came across several of these fairly large Russula emetica mushrooms when we were botanizing Rod Handfield's forested land on 17 August 2010. The Handfields live SW of Calgary and W of Millarville. Ha, I gave up trying to get a clear shot of this fungus - just too much growing around it - but posting it as a record of what we found.

"Russula emetica, commonly known as the sickener, is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula, one of many species with a predominantly red-coloured cap and white gills and stalk. It gets its common name from its inedibility, as it causes vomiting and diarrhea when consumed. It has an extremely peppery taste, which is said partly to disappear on cooking, along with its toxicity, though eating it is not recommended. Mixing one emetica with otherwise edible red Russula will ruin the whole meal, and it is a common reason some do not pick any red Russula-species." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russula_emetica