Selected elements of Poison Pax Paxillus involutus.

Concentrations of Ag, Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Cs, Fe, Ga, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sb, Sr, V, Tl and Zn have been determined in the whole fruiting bodies as well as separately in caps and stalks of Poison Pax collected from three geographically distant sites across Poland. The elements were determined using ICP-MS, ICP-OES, HG-AAS and CV-AAS, respectively. Based on arithmetic mean and median values for Poison Pax specimens from the Lezno site the elements such as Ag, Co, Cr, Cs, Mn, Mo, K, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, V and Tl occur at similar concentration both in the caps and stalks, while for Cd, Cu, Hg, Mg and Zn around two-fold greater concentrations were noted in caps than stalks (cap/stalk concentration quotient > 1). Cs, Cd, Ni and Rb occurred at much greater concentration in specimens collected from the Kłodzka Hollow in the Sudety Mountains when compared to the lowland site (Mann-Whitney U-test), and slightly greater values were noted also for Cr, Mo and Rb, while for Ca, Co, Mg and Mn were smaller The results provide useful environmental and biological baseline level of information for metallic elements of Poison Pax.