A shining mushroom!!

Why have I said such a stupid thing? Well, let me tell you that this is not any nonsense. Firstly, I want to explain why the mushrooms are called so. That name comes from "John Mussheron", from 1327, the first person who discovered an edible mushroom. Then, it was derivated from Anglo-French mixing word musherun, and addapted to the English with the fonetic features of the word. So, there´s no any relation with a "mushed room" as we would say literaly in spanish.

Now, we are going to talk about the proper name of this peculiar mushroom, and for this, you must know some information about Anglo-Saxon tradition.

A legend tells how Jack, a wily farmer with a sinful conduct, made a pact with the devil forcing him to swear to never take his soul to hell. So, when Jack died, his soul couldn´t go neither hell, nor heaven (due to his sinful life). Jack had nowhere to go nor light to see (neither the hell´s one nor the heaven´s one). Suddenly, the devil threw him, as a joke, a flame of hell that would never stop burning. So Jack hollowed one of his turnips (his favourite food) , put the flame inside (as a lantern) and he began to wander aimlessly forever throughout the world looking for a place to finally rest. Then he became known as “Jack of the lantern” or “Jack O´Lantern”. The Jack´s flashlight in Ireland and Scotland was a carved turnip with the supposed dark side of Jack, which used to be collocated in windows to ward off the devil and every evil spirit from their homes.

Nowadays, the famous Halloween pumpkins are the result of this legend, whose real name is not “Halloween pumpkins”, but Jack O´Lantern. Here the relation with our mushroom in question, which is called the Jack O´Lantern mushroom. It´s a poisonous mushroom that contains the toxin muscarine which causes severe crumps and diarrhea.

According to every field guide, and every other source of literature available about the species, the mushroom gets its name because it´s a vegetal and it glows in darkness like the Halloween pumpkins. If you don´t believe me, wait until night, keep all light out of a room, get into, close the door, close the door, and wait five minutes until your eyes adjust completely to the darkness. Then you will see the gills glowing pale-green; this is due to an enzyme substance called luciferase.

The problem is that the mushroom is mistaken during the day for certain types of gourmet´s chanterelles (a delicious mushroom) poisoning themselves. So... be careful!!