Some guys get no respect. 

Christian Hendrik Persoon was not as self-depreciating as Rodney Dangerfield. However, he was, (and still is) much maligned. 

Wikipedia contributors, called Wkipedians, described Mr. Persoon as “unemployed, unmarried, poverty stricken, and a recluse.” 

An author at The Journal of Wild Mushrooming offered another assessment of this scientist: “He had no career. He doesn’t seem to have ever held a paying job, or even to have ever sought one. I have yet to see any plausible explanation for how he managed to eat for all of those years, let along fund the publication of his books.”

Still, he was a Persoon of interest, and perhaps had the last laugh, since he didn’t work a day in his life. Instead, while pursuing his passions, Mr. Persoon even convinced others to support his interests and ultimately pay him a salary. In exchange for donating his herbarium after his death in 1836, he was provided a lifelong pension from the governing dynasty of the Netherlands.

Mushrooms were Mr. Persoon’s passion and he has been called the father of systematic mycology. Many volumes of mushroom methodology, illustrations and classifications were completed by this solitary scientist. More than 2,200 species of fungi were first described in his volumes, and he gets credit for identifying and naming the genus Amanita, among others.

Amanitas are somewhat famous for their extremes. This genus contains some of the deadliest and some of the most intriguingly edible and hallucinogenic varieties. With over six hundred species in the genus, there are a lot of magic mushrooms (bringing good and evil) from which to choose.

All Amanitas share some similarities. Amanitas emerge from the ground in a universal veil, or egg-shaped cup. As the mushroom grows, it breaks out of its natal egg, splitting the veil in the middle and leaving the bottom bit, called the volva, at the base of the mushroom’s stem. Higher up, the annulus is a ring formed from the top of the veil separated from the volva by the growth of the stem. Other remnants of the veil can be seen as warts or patches on the mushroom cap.

It would be something if you could identify individual Amanitas plants beyond any shadow of a doubt, but it’s a risk unless you devote years to their study. Be wary of their powers! Amanitas are responsible for almost 95 per cent of fatal mushroom poisonings, and one member of this genus, the death cap, claims responsibility for 50 per cent of those fatalities.

Death from Amanita poisoning is not pretty. A victim will have cramps, diarrhea and vomiting 10 to 24 hours after ingestion. These symptoms subside, leaving the victim to believe that they are better. But soon enough, damage to the liver and kidneys will occur that cannot be reversed. Within two weeks, death occurs due to organ failure. Many poisonings occur in Southeast Asian where immigrants to the area who know a look-alike edible from their countries, mistakenly consume this country’s dangerous doppelganger.

On the flip side of the genus are the less toxic, but no less potent, psychedelic mushrooms believed to be humanity’s oldest hallucinogens. Fly agaric, panther cap and others have historically been used as “entheogens” (translated as the gods within) in religious, spiritual= and ritualistic activities.

Amanitas are common throughout the Island, the region, the country and the world. They are as ubiquitous as Mr. Persoon was unknown. With the frequency of fatality, most amateur mushroom hunters avoid these species as rigorously as Mr. Persoon evaded a social life beyond his beloved mushrooms. But in the end, both may have laughed all the way to the bank, finding some small sort of fame, notoriety, and (hard earned) respect.  

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.