Lithuania’s latest edition of the Red Book, the protected species register, did not include 241 formerly protected plants, mushrooms and animals. One of them was the impressive cabbage-head fungus, whose recipes for cooking went viral on social media.
In October, a man shared a post in a popular mushroom-picking group on Facebook in which he showed off his impressive find – the cabbage-head mushroom. He also shared recommendations on how to cook it, seemingly oblivious to its formerly-endangered status.
People began commenting, saying the species should be protected. One of those to react was an environmentalist Mindaugas Ryla. According to him, the mushroom may have been removed without a solid reason from the Red Book along with dozens of other species.
“A whole bunch of species mysteriously disappeared from the Red Data Book using super-duper scientific techniques. Not because the species suddenly became common, but because of the methodology,” Ryla wrote on Facebook.
According to him, some of them may have been delisted due to insufficient information, or without taking the consumption habits and other risks into account.
“In particular, there is the bear garlic [plants] and the cabbage-headed cowpea [fungi], which have been removed but are now used massively for food. There may be more species like this,” he told LRT.lt.
Sometimes a mere rumour of a health benefit is enough to spark a frenzy, Ryla added.
Although some of the endangered species would only be picked in small numbers and in secret, delisting them meant the green light for people to consume them.
By blindly picking rare species, people are destroying biodiversity, but also putting their health at risk, according to Andrejus Gaidamavičius, an environmentalist.
“Not everyone knows that cabbage-head fungi is only eaten young when it is white and not browned. But people also pick completely brown old ones, which have absolutely no nutritional value,” he said, adding that some species which may carry health benefits for some people, could be dangerous to others.
Botanist Vilma Gudynienė stressed that education was also crucial to protest rare species.
“When people see that the species they like to eat are no longer on the protected species lists, they should not rush to promote [on social media] traditions that are not necessarily good examples in the kitchen,” she said.
“This should be taught by the Environment Ministry, by informing about species recently removed from protected species lists, and by providing guidance and a model of how to behave when they are found,” she added.
According to Gaidamavičius, the most important thing to do is not to collect the species without finding out what it is.
“It’s sad to see photos on social media, where people lay out the picked plants and mushrooms on the table and then ask what they are,” he said. “When they found out that they are poisonous, they throw them away. [...] This is how we destroy the nature out of curiosity.”
To identify species, he recommends using the iNaturalist website or app, and not relying on social media groups.
“I enter 500 new sightings every month,” Gaidamavičius said. “You can walk through a forest and check the names of every mushroom, moss, grass, bird.”
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