The present paper deals with poisonous species of the genus Cortinarius. According to the toxicity, the species were classified into five groups: (1) species containing orellanine confirmed as deadly poisonous; (2) species with orellanine toxic only to animals; (3) suspected species with fluorescent orellanine-like substances; (4) species with emodin; (5) species with other toxic substances. Since 1957, when poisonings caused by Cortinarius orellanus were discovered in Poland, similar cases have been reported from Switzerland, Germany, France, and Czechoslovakia. Poisonings by Cortinarius speciosissimus have also been described. Toxicity was confirmed by animal experiments. Section Orellani is characterized by blue fluorescence and specific chromatographic patterns. Recently, Cortinarius gentilis (section Limonei) has also been confirmed as toxic. Other species in section Limonei, such as Cortinarius saniosus, are suspected but untested. So far, only a few species of Cortinarius have been tested experimentally, and only a few, mainly from subgenus Phlegmacium, are considered edible.
Kubička J. (1980): Giftige Schleierlinge (Gattung Cortinarius). – Česká Mykologie 34(1): 3–8.
