MADISON, Wis. -- Frequent rainfall this spring has made for a bumper year for the normally expensive, sponge-like morel mushrooms around the Madison area, but experts warn some people could wind up picking ones that are toxic.

Some people are reporting see a large number of mushrooms in their back yards, but some scientists are advising people to avoid picking any unless a mushroom expert is with them.

Botany experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said that there are some very poisonous morels out there that look very much alike, WISC-TV reported.

The primary cause for concern is the potentially dangerous "false morel" mushroom. Assistant botany professor Andrea Gargas said that the mushrooms can look almost identical, or have a dark, wavy lobed cap. Real morels have caps that are attached and part of the stem as well as other features. False morels have caps that hang off the stem and other sometimes-hard-to-find features, she said.

"We say, 'There aren't many mushrooms that kill you, but the ones that kill you, kill you dead,'" Gargas said. "So, you have to be very careful."

The poison in false morel mushrooms is called monmethylhydrazine, or MMH. It's a chemical found in rocket fuel that can produce liver and kidney failure.

False morels are just one of dozens of poisonous species, like little brown-capped mushrooms, called "poison pie." They have a short tiny brown mushroom cap with so-called gills on them. They too, can be toxic and could make people very sick.

Gargas said that parents shouldn't fret about their children eating bad mushrooms, but she warned parents to not take any chances should they see a child put something in his or her mouth. She suggested people in that situation should induce the child to vomit the mushroom or get his or her stomach pumped.

She said that risking a toxic side effect isn't worth it, WISC-TV reported.