Paddy Straw Mushroom

Overview

Tropical Asian straw and rice-husk decomposer. Cultivated and wild-collected across southern China, SE Asia, and West Africa. Harvested in 'egg' stage before the volva splits. CAUTION: in temperate countries it is the leading cause of deadly Amanita poisoning when foragers mistake an emerging Amanita phalloides for a straw mushroom — the two have similar egg-stage profiles but Amanita has white gills and white spore print, Volvariella has pink.

Season

Year-round wet season — typical fruiting months: , Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov.

Host trees & substrate

• Rice straw
• Banana leaf compost
• Cotton stalks

Toxic lookalikes

• Death cap (Amanita phalloides)deadly

  Egg-stage A. phalloides is the leading deadly confusion for emigrant communities harvesting 'straw mushrooms' in temperate Europe and North America. Always cut open: pink gills = Volvariella, white gills = walk away.

Where it grows

• Tropical Southeast Asia
• Southeast China Subtropical
• Indian Subcontinent & Himalayan Foothills