OMPHALINA
ISSN 1925-1858 Newsletter of May 2019 • Vol X, No. 1 OMPHALINA, newsletter of Foray Newfoundland & Labrador, has no fixed schedule of publication, and no promise to appear again. Its primary purpose is to serve as a conduit of information to registrants of the upcom- ing foray and secondarily as a communications tool with members.
Issues of Omphalina are archived in: Board of Directors Consultants Library and Archives Canada’s Electronic Collection http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/omphalina/index. President Mycological html, and Michael Burzynski Dave Malloch Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Queen Elizabeth II Treasurer NB MUSEUM Library (printed copy also archived) Geoff Thurlow Auditor http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/search/collection/ompha- Secretary Gordon Janes lina/ Robert McIsaac BONNELL COLE JANES Legal Counsel The content is neither discussed nor approved by the Directors Board of Directors. Therefore, opinions expressed do Bill Bryden Andrew May not represent the views of the Board, the Corporation, Shawn Dawson BROTHERS & BURDEN the partners, the sponsors, or the members. Opinions Rachelle Dove Webmaster are solely those of the authors and uncredited opinions Chris Deduke Jim Cornish solely those of the Editor. Jamie Graham Anne Marceau Past President Please address comments, complaints, and contributions Helen Spencer Andrus Voitk to the Editor, Sara Jenkins at [email protected]
Foray Newfoundland and Labrador is an amateur, volunteer-run, community, not-for-profit organization with a mission to organize enjoyable Accepting Contributions and informative amateur mushroom forays in We eagerly invite contributions to Omphalina, dealing with any aspect even remotely related to NL Newfoundland and Labrador and disseminate mushrooms. Authors are guaranteed instant fame— the knowledge gained. fortune to follow. Issues are freely available to the public on the FNL website.
Authors retain copyright to all published material, and www.nlmushrooms.ca submission indicates permission to publish, subject to the usual editorial decisions. Because content is [email protected] protected by authors’ copyright, editors of other publications wishing to use any material, should ask Foray Newfoundland & Labrador first. No picture, no paper. Material should be original 21 Pond Road and should deal with the mycota of Newfoundland and Rocky Harbour NL A0K 4N0 Labrador and their concerns. Detailed Information for Canada Authors is available on our website. ISSN 1925-1858 Vol X, No. 1 OMPHALINA May 2019
CONTENT
Editor’s note ...... 4 Foray Matters 2019 President’s Message ...... 5 Bowring Park Mycoblitz ...... 6 Registration Form ...... 8 One Mystery Solved: Hebeloma avallaneum Kauffman Andrus Voitk ...... 10 Sub Cortina (interview with Chris Deduke) Sara Jenkins ...... 12 Invisible (Almost) Winter Mushrooms Henry Mann ...... 14 Powdery Mildews of the Avalon Peninsula H. Van T. Cotter ...... 16 The Bishop’s sketchbook ...... 20 How to discriminate one old growth forest from another Yolanda Wiersma and Troy McMullin ...... 21 At Last! Wild mushrooms at the St. John’s Farmer’s Market Shawn Dawson ...... 24 The Diversity of Form and Color in Myxomycetes photos by Ania Ronikier ...... 26 Partner Organizations ...... 27
Cover image: Dianema sp., one of many unique myxomycota. As a focal point of the 2019 Foray, the diversi- ty in form and color of myxomycetes is highlighted throughout this issue. Image: A. Ronikier.
OMPHALINA Vol X, No. 1 3 Message from the Editor
WOW. After some delay, the Foray issue is finally here, and what better to get excited about than a romp around the woods in search of slime molds! With such a short time window to admire them before transport and dehydration render them unrecognizeable, there’s something extra beautiful in their ephemeral forms that present a new challenge for us this year. And I’m particularly excited that we’ll have these adventures again on the Avalon Peninsula—and perhaps more so, selfishly, because I don’t have to drive nearly as far as in other years. There are just a few short weeks for our dedicated membership to secure spots before the general public, so I don’t need to remind you to sign up soon.
As in 2018, this year’s Foray will focus on the unique forests of the Avalon, whose high rainfall rates encourage rich fungal communities. More details about the Foray will be forthcoming in our next issue, due out in two short months. Michael Burzynski’s introduction on the following page provides a good overview of what’s in store, and Helen Spencer’s mycoblitz information highlights new challenges and rewards for urban collecting.
This issue also includes some insight into what are perhaps lesser appreciated by those of us that got into mushroom- hunting for edibles, such as admiring the microscopic world of powdery mildews, a new index for considering the fungal communities of forest ecosystems, and a mindful search for tiny winter treasure, among other things. All contributers are gratefully acknowledged for their time and efforts.
As I haven’t yet the knowledge base to wax poetic about all matters mycological, perhaps the best use of this space is for all of us to take a moment to thank Andrus Voitk for his dedication to Omphalina over the past decade. Without his unflagging enthusiasm for the subject matter, his support of your new editor, and his almost inhuman attention to details, this—nor future issues—would not be here. Thank you Andrus.
Sara
OMPHALINA Vol X, No. 1 4 Foray Matters
Diderma peyerimhoffi, photo: A. Ronikier Foray 2019 Finds Time for Slime and Urban Fungi
The Foray returns to the Avalon Peninsula this year, but at Last year, during the Suillus Foray, the team of Rytas mid-month (September 13, 14, and 15) instead of at Vilgalys, Van Cotter, and Nhu Nguyen collected scores of the end of the month, when we sampled there last year. We DNA samples of many different species for their work with do this in order to inventory the same part of the province their chosen boletes. This year we hope to be as thorough at different times during the growing season, and since the with the slime moulds. Unfortunately they are small (bring weather is so different each year, we trust that there will reading glasses, if you use them), and, true to their name, be different growing conditions from one year to the next, they are often slimy and VERY fragile. A small plastic and different fungi in fruit when we are there. collecting box, like the tackle boxes used by fishermen, is the best tool for collecting fragile specimens. If you can Two new things will happen during this Foray: we will bring one, it will be a great help during field trips. be joined by a researcher who specializes in an often- overlooked group—the unfortunately named slime moulds Since the end of last year’s foray, more and more (myxomycetes), and we will be sampling several urban sites information is coming in about the material that in the City of St. John’s where many species of introduced identifiers brought back with them, or which was sent trees and shrubs are growing in a human-altered landscape. to other experts. We will keep you updated with new Both of these bring the possibility of adding new fungi and identifications as we receive them. lichens to our cumulative species list. During past forays we have usually had to discard slime moulds because most We had a lot of fun last year, and I hope to see you this year years primarily only Tony Wright was were willing to try at Burry Heights Camp this September! to identify them. This year we will purposefully search for them, collect them, and culture them. Even if they are not Michael Burzynski mature enough to key out, DNA analysis will identify what President, Foray Newfoundland and Labrador they are.
OMPHALINA Vol X, No. 1 5 Bowring Park Mycoblitz by Helen Spencer
For many Newfoundland Foray participants the mycoblitz on Friday afternoon is the fun start to a busy week-end. We always meet at a lovely location, often a provincial park, and spread out to gather as many different fungi as possible, bringing them back to the Foray host site for sorting and identification. For those new to Forays, it’s very exciting to be suddenly immersed in the world of fungus and mycologists at the mycoblitz.
This year, for the first time, the mycoblitz will be at an urban location, Bowring Park (305 Waterford Bridge Road) in St John’s. We hope that by exploring an established urban park we will find species of fungus that we haven’t yet found on any of our forays. There are many trees and shrubs that are not native to Newfoundland in urban environments, and hopefully some of their associated fungi have found their way there too.
A history of Bowring Park, including a list of some of the trees that have been planted over Join the Mycoblitz the last century, can be found at http://www. Details will follow in our next issue with meeting time and location. bowringpark.com/usr/documents/history_ of_bowringpark.pdf. A brief review tells us that these 50 acres of land were obtained from the Newfoundland Government in 1847 and initially developed into farmland. Later t. oh n s it was bought by the Bowring Brothers and donated to the city to be turned into a park which officially opened in 1914. The park has formal gardens, tree plantings, several kilometers of trails that wind through woods, gardens, lawns, beside rivers and ponds. The old Newfoundland Railway passes through the park and there are sports fields as well as a conservatory and an old slate quarry. In short, o w r i n g a r k it’s a fun place to explore, and the variety of habitats should produce high biodiversity overall, and locations where we ought to find TRUE 0 KILOMETERS 3 NORTH lots of lovely mushrooms. map created using Field Papers (fieldpapers.org) OMPHALINA Vol X, No. 1 6 Download the map of the park here: http://www.bowringpark.com/usr/documents/bowringpark_map.pdf
NOTE: North is towards the top left of the map N