Mushrooms are a key motif that represent the notion of a borderland, in which competing principles can exist together. Mushrooms, even those that look exactly alike, can either sustain or kill those who eat them. The narrator describes such lurking danger: “The Amanita verna, brother of the albino Amanita phalloides, a loner that grows in the scrub on a stout stalk, is the death cap of the meadows. It smells sweet and watches the herds of meadow mushrooms from afar, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing” (141). She describes it with a simile, comparing it to a wolf in sheep’s clothing, demonstrating how easy it is for the mushrooms to be confused. Only by examining the mushrooms can someone distinguish them and their use.

A person must hold competing identities in mind when searching for mushrooms, just as many who live in the borderland do personally. The mushrooms also do not adhere to the border, demonstrating how nature does not respect man-made borders. By existing on both sides of the border, the mushrooms help characterize both sides as a borderland, with those nearby seeing similar landscapes, and eating similar food, while experiencing different national identities.