Health experts are urging residents not to die for fungi after more than two dozen people were hospitalised after eating wild mushrooms across NSW.
There have been 38 cases of mushroom-related hospitalisations across NSW in 2018 to date with 27 taking place in autumn, which is peak mushrooming season.
"Cooler, wetter weather is making good growing conditions for wild mushrooms," NSW Health's Dr Benjamin Scalley said in a statement on Saturday.
"But it is difficult for most people to recognise edible from poisonous mushrooms."
Poisonous varieties can cause severe abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating and confusion - or even death.
"Some varieties of mushrooms can be fatal, causing severe kidney and liver damage," Dr Scalley said.
There have been 281 hospitalisations in NSW and the ACT between 2014 and 2017 and almost 900 mushroom-related calls to the poison hotline in the same period.
The most dangerous variety of mushroom, the so-called death cap, was spotted growing in Victoria and the ACT earlier this month.
Four people have died in the ACT since 2002 and there have been a number of poisonings associated with the lethal mushrooms.
Experts warn cooking wild mushrooms does not make them safe to eat and people should avoid eating them unless they're store bought.
