Pavement mushroom

• Danger first: deadly look-alikes. Some deadly mushrooms look like edible white-gilled or pale mushrooms. A 2024 review says the death cap can easily be confused with the horse mushroom, a close Agaricus relative, and a 2022 review says a lethal destroying angel can easily be confused with immature Agaricus. Their poisons (amatoxins) are not destroyed by cooking or drying. Symptoms come after a quiet gap of 6 to 18 hours and can end in liver failure; the review we read gives a death rate of 10 to 20%. This page gives no way to tell mushrooms apart. Never eat a wild mushroom unless an expert has identified it in person. Narrative review ^{6 1 9}
• Toxic yellow-staining relatives cause stomach and bowel illness. Agaricus xanthodermus and other yellow-staining relatives are toxic and cause stomach and bowel illness of varying severity. In South Sardinia, over 10 years, Agaricus xanthodermus was one of the two commonest toxic species in hospital and inspectorate records (18% of cases caused by toxic species). Phenol in the mushroom is high enough to account for the toxicity, and the level varies with age, part and where it grew. Case series ^{10 5 3}
• It grows in towns and by roads, and wild specimens held cadmium and lead. Pavement mushroom takes its name from growing at pavement edges and even pushing up through asphalt. In a 2026 study of 22 wild specimens from parks in Leicester and Leicestershire, UK, the median cadmium was 2.968 mg per kg dry weight and the median lead 2.082 mg per kg, with more in caps than stems. In the authors' screening scenario of 300 g fresh weight a week, the cadmium alone came to about half (50.88%) of the EFSA tolerable weekly intake, the highest of the single edible species in that study. This is an exposure estimate, not a report of illness. Levels depend on the spot, and nothing in the study shows a particular roadside is safe or unsafe. Food survey ^{12 7 4}
• Cooking lowers agaritine, a compound found in cultivated Agaricus. Cultivated Agaricus bitorquis held about 700 mg per kg agaritine when freshly harvested from early flushes, and 165 to 457 mg per kg in supermarket samples. Boiling, frying, baking and microwaving lowered it by different amounts, so raw mushrooms give much more exposure than cooked ones. The authors say it is not known what agaritine becomes during cooking. No human harm was reported in that study. We found no measured agaritine value for wild pavement mushroom. The button mushroom page discusses agaritine further. Food survey ¹⁵
• No data for pregnancy, breastfeeding or allergy; children are at risk from wild mushrooms in general. No source we read tests pavement mushroom in pregnancy or breastfeeding or reports an allergy to it. A 2026 review of urban mushroom farming lists allergenicity among general safety considerations for mushrooms. Children are at special risk from wild mushrooms they find outdoors. Insufficient ¹⁴

No liver injury from pavement mushroom itself was found. Liver failure is the main danger of a look-alike, the death cap and related white Amanita species, whose amatoxins block a key liver enzyme (RNA polymerase II) and are not destroyed by cooking. ^{9 6}

Monitoring. Anyone who ate a wild mushroom and has vomiting or diarrhoea, especially starting 6 or more hours after the meal, needs urgent medical care even if the symptoms ease. Keep any leftover mushroom or remains for the hospital.

This is a safety connection. It is not evidence that Pavement mushroom supports liver health.

Summary. Pavement mushroom itself has no described poisoning in the sources we read. The documented dangers are look-alikes, metals taken up from urban soil, and agaritine, which is found in cultivated Agaricus and lowered by cooking.

Animal. Not reviewed.

High dose or long term signals. Cadmium from frequent wild meals was calculated in a screening scenario, not observed.

Genotoxicity. Not read for this species.

Toxic or hazardous parts. Fungus: the fruiting body is the part eaten. Caps held more cadmium and lead than stems in the UK study.

Wild mushrooms reflect their ground. One UK study measured metals in this species. No pesticide, hydrocarbon, de-icing salt, microbe or radioactivity test was read.

Cadmium and lead, urban parks in England. Median cadmium 2.968 mg per kg dry weight (range 2.127 to 4.846) and lead 2.082 mg per kg in 22 fruiting bodies; arsenic not detected. ¹²

Cap versus stem. Median cadmium 3.878 (cap) vs 2.068 (stem) and lead 2.462 vs 1.580 mg per kg dry weight. ¹²

Screening scenario. At 300 g fresh weight a week, the authors calculate cadmium at 50.88% of the EFSA tolerable weekly intake (72.52% on a high-end estimate) and a lead margin of exposure of 3.92. This is the authors' scenario, not advice, and moisture was assumed. ¹²

Soil link. Park-level soil to mushroom associations were not significant after correction, so soil tests alone did not predict the mushroom's metals. ¹²

Roadside pollution (opinion). A UK forager says he avoids eating roadside mushrooms because of pollution from traffic. This is a blog opinion, not a measurement. ⁷

• You or someone else ate a wild mushroom and has vomiting, diarrhoea or belly pain: call your local poison centre or emergency services now, even if the person seems better later. Keep any leftover mushroom or remains for the hospital.
• Stomach symptoms that start 6 or more hours after a wild mushroom meal, ease for a day, then yellow skin or eyes, dark urine or confusion: this is an emergency.
• A child may have swallowed a wild mushroom: call poison control or emergency services at once.
• Swelling of the face or throat or trouble breathing after eating a mushroom: call emergency services.

If someone may be poisoned or in a crisis, contact a clinician or emergency service straight away. In the US, Poison Control is 1-800-222-1222.