Wild for mushrooms? Learn more about your favorite fungi

Marvelous mushrooms — 40,000 species in all — were once feared by the ancients as a poisonous foe. Many Roman emperors allegedly were victims of death by mushrooms, including Tiberius and Claudius, along with Pope Clement VII, Alexander I of Russia and Abe Lincoln’s mom, Nancy Hanks, who succumbed after drinking tainted milk from the family dairy cow who ruminated toxic mushrooms.

