The Newsletter of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society

Fungifama

The Newsletter of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society August 2005

President Monthly Meetings: Christian Friedinger 250-721-1793 Vice-President Jennifer English 250- 656-3443 September 1: SVIMS at Shop the Wild. Past-President Various club members will discuss and Christine Roberts 250-478-2976 Treasurer & Membership & Subscriptions illustrate our experiences at this event, Jean Johnson 250-656-3117 including what we learned from David 2552 Beaufort Rd., Sidney, BC V8L 2J9 Arora! [email protected] Refreshments Organiser Gerald & Marlee Loiselle 250-474-4344 October 6: TBA. Tineke Van der Voort 250- 743-3686 Foray Organizers Adolf & Oluna Ceska 250-477-1211 November 3: Mushroom Madness and Fungifama Editor Election of SVIMS Executive. Richard Shannon Berch 250-652-5201 Winder will challenge us with a mushroom [email protected] Directors-at-large quiz. Richard Winder 250-642-7528 Kevin Trim 250-642-5953 PREZ SEZ Webmaster Ian Gibson 250-384-6002 By Christian Friedinger [email protected] Welcome back to the cooler fall SVIMS list serve master forests and the hot topics of this winter’s Adolf Ceska [email protected] To broadcast a message to SVIMS members via program of the SVIMS. What was for us email: [email protected] nice summer weather must have been for SVIMS web site: www.svims.ca some other creatures quite some Dues: $20.00 per year per household, payable unsettling conditions. Gardeners, in January by cheque made out to SVIMS or by mushroomers and other interested people cash at meeting. Meetings: First Thursday of the month (no did find some unusual occurrences of meetings December, January, July, and August), plant, animal, and fungal behaviour. Until 7:00 p.m. sharp at the Pacific Forestry Centre, 506 now we’ve only seen and heard some Burnside Rd W, Victoria. Lots of free parking. The anecdotal evidence, however, in one of meeting room is near the main entrance door. Non- our next meetings I am sure this topic will members welcome. Caution: The South Vancouver Island surface. Just for example, the Mycological Society (SVIMS) newsletter, chanterelles in the middle of the Fungifama, is not intended as an (online) summer.... though it was a fine dinner. It identification or medicinal guide to mushrooms. would be interesting to compare these There are risks involved in eating and in using wild unusual fruitings to the different mushrooms. The possibility may exist that you are allergic to a specific mushroom, or that the parameters of the weather. Or are there mushroom may be anomalous. SVIMS, Fungifama microclimates that develop locally? Or and the authors on this site warn that the reader special sub varieties that come up under must accept full personal responsibility for deciding “abnormal” conditions? Since we have so to use or consume any particular specimen. many members with all their “private”

1 patches of different reoccurring varieties, Speaker: David Arora, author of what about implanting on those location Mushrooms Demystified some modern mini weather stations and When: 4 p.m., Sunday, August 28 see if mushrooms fruitings could become Where: The Quarterdeck in the Grant predictable. Your computer dials up the Building, Royal Roads University patches regularly and downloads the Cost: Free to the public but donations data.... and then, “Oh, patch 436 will have gratefully accepted some boletus by the weekend, will have a This presentation is supported by walk there Saturday afternoon and let's get the South Vancouver Island Mycological people together for dinner Saturday Society and is being sponsored by the evening...” Maybe we have already some Centre for Non-Timber Resources at the technically advanced SVIMS members? Royal Roads University in conjunction Modern agriculture is using such devices with "Shop the Wild 2005", an already. My prediction system works a bit international Trade Show and Public differently, just before that first rainstorm Exhibition of Non-Timber Forest Products. mid-August, my oysters became active - See the web site at and when there is enough rain, normally www.shopthewild.com for more one or two weeks later the first forest information and a schedule of events. mushrooms show. But that only works if you get out in the woods, so forget bikini, SVIMS Mushroom Show at Swan Lake beach and barbecue and find the cool and  Sunday, October 23 mossy slopes around an old growth fir  Forays on Saturday to collect for the were mystic mushrooms make you reel. show will be announced in October.

MUSHROOM OF THE MONTH 3rd Annual Bamfield Mushroom The Executive decided that, in Festival order to further education of our members,  Saturday, October 15 one mushroom per monthly meeting would  Contact Jim Jones at be featured. One individual would be [email protected] for more information. responsible for collecting the specimens and filling in the information to present at FAR AWAY EVENTS AND FORAYS: the meeting. September: Gerald Newfoundland and Labrador 2005 October: Tineke (replacement needed)  Gros Morne National Park,NFLD November: Christian  Sept 2-5, 2005  Labrador Straits – Sept 6-9, 2005 SVIMS CALENDAR 2006  For details: www.swge.mun.ca/hnhs Get your photographic entries in to Kevin Trim ([email protected]) or at the Annual Gary Lincoff Mid-Atlantic Sept. SVIMS meeting. Mushroom Foray LOCAL EVENTS AND FORAYS:  Sept 10, 2005  For details: [email protected] or SPECIAL LAST MINUTE EVENT!!! telephone Dick Dougall at 412-486-7504 Hunting Wild Mushrooms Around the World Priest Lake, Idaho Foray  Spokane Mushroom Club

2  Sept 23-25, 2005 most gorgeous oaks, madrones, Tan  For details: telephone 509-328-7973 oaks, redwoods, and Doug fir in the state or www.spokanemushroomclub.org of California. The shared cabins are heated, bright, clean, and airy, with Wildacres Regional NAMA Foray hardwood floors and stylish bunks.  North Carolina Registration information:  Sept 29-Oct 2, 2005 Early registration opens August 15,  For details contact Allein Stanley at 2005. Fees are $195 until November 15. [email protected] Registration after November 15, 2005 is $225 until Wednesday January 3rd International Medicinal Mushroom 5th 2006. Conference Registration closes on Wednesday  Port Townsend, WA January 5th 2006. Sunday only, February 16 2006  Oct. 12 – 17, 2005 day fee: $110.  Contact Steve at 800-780-9126 (Ext. Fees include lodging (Sunday’s 10) or email at [email protected] fees do not include lodging), meals, and all classes, presentations & activities. 8th International Mycological Congress To obtain a registration form, or for  Cairns, Australia more information, check out our website  Aug 21-26, 2006 at www.SOMAmushrooms.org, or call  Check website for periodic updates: Rick Meininger at (707) 887-1888 or (707) www.sapmea.asn.au/imc8 938-4106.

SOMA Winter Mushroom Camp Coming INTERESTING MYCOLOGICAL WEB Up! SITES The Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA) invites you to the 9th Russulales Web Site annual SOMA Winter Mushroom Camp. http://w3.uwyo.edu/~fungi/Russulales_site The Camp will be held during the Martin .html Luther King weekend, January 14, 15, Put together by Dr. Steve Miller at 16th 2006, situated near Occidental in the University of Wyoming, the Russulales beautiful Sonoma County. The camp is web site contains a visual guide to located about one hour north of San species of Russula and Lactarius (i.e. Francisco. photographs of a large number of The Camp, a benefit for SOMA, will species), bibliography of Russula in the be full of mushroom forays, specimen Western Hemisphere, recent Russulales tables, slideshows, and speaker publications, and links to other presentations. Of course, the SOMA mycological web pages. culinary group will provide a great wild mushroom cuisine. Northern Ireland Fungus Group Classes: photography, cooking, medicine http://www.nifg.org.uk/home.htm making, truffle hunting “We are a voluntary organisation Workshops: cultivation, papermaking, whose aim is to promote the conservation mushroom dyeing, of and interest in Fungi in Northern Lodging: The spacious, modern camp Ireland. buildings are set amongst 225 acres of

3 “ Three of the best places to find Beowulf and Armillaria images of (European) fungi on the web are . . it is not that far hence in milemarks, the Polish index of images that the mere [swamp] stands; over it http://www.grzyby.pl/fglobal-directory- hangs frost-covered groves, tree held fast a.htm , the Danish site, Fungi Images on by its roots overshadows the water; there the Net http://www.in2.dk/fungi/ and one may every night a horrible marvel Bioimages see: fire on the water; not even the wise http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/T74.H of them lives, of men's sons, that knows TM in the UK. Try them all if you are the bottom. looking for fungal images!” Though the heath-stepper harassed by hounds, the hart with strong Armillaria root disease horns, seeks the forest, put to flight from http://www.forestpathology.org/dis_arm.html far, first he will give up his life, existence From the web site of Jim Worrall on the shore, before he will leap in to hide Probably the coolest thing about his head; it is not a pleasant place! Armillaria species really has nothing to do translation © Benjamin Slade 2002 with pathology. Its mycelium glows in the dark! The mushrooms do not glow much, if . . . Not far is it hence in measure of miles at all, but if you open a piece of wood with that the mere expands, and o'er it the advanced decay caused by Armillaria, and frost-bound forest hanging, sturdily view it in the dark, you stand a good rooted, shadows the wave. By night is a chance of seeing the luminescence. It wonder weird to see, fire on the waters. helps to let your eyes adjust to the dark. So wise lived none of the sons of men, to The amount of light varies greatly from search those depths! different pieces of decaying wood. It's not Nay, though the heath-rover, likely to blind you, but some pieces are harried by dogs, the horn-proud hart, this quite bright. Other fungi glow, including in holt should seek, long distance driven, his some cases the fruitbodies, but Armillaria dear life first on the brink he yields ere he is certainly the most common and brave the plunge to hide his head: 'tis no widespread luminescent fungus. happy place! It certainly is a wondrous thing to translation from The Harvard Classics, see in the night, bringing a strange mix of Volume 49 by Frances B. Grummere, delight and spookiness. So it is easy to presented on the web by Erik Max Francis imagine strange and magical things behind it. Glowing wood has indeed found its way into folklore and mythology. It has ARTICLES OF INTEREST been termed "fairy fire" but is more commonly called "foxfire" in modern times Edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms: (is that derived from "faux," or false, fire?). challenges and achievements, by Wang Aristotle called it a "cold fire". It made a Yun and Ian R. Hall brief appearance to lend an eerie air of Canadian Journal of Botany Volume 82, dread to a scene in the oldest surviving Number 8, August 2004 piece of English literature, Beowulf (see http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cgi- below). bin/rp/rp2_tocs_e?cjb_cjb8-04_82 Abstract: There are about 2500 recorded species of edible mushrooms. The most

4 expensive and sought after of these industry in western Montana during 2001. mushrooms belong to the mycorrhizal We talked with 18 key informants (7 group and include Tuber melanosporum buyers and 11 pickers) and observed Vitt. (Périgord black truffle), Tuber social interactions at one buying station magnatum Pico & Vitt. (Italian white near the Kootenai National Forest and truffle), Tricholoma matsutake (Ito & Imai) three buying stations near the Bitterroot Sing. (matsutake), Boletus edulis Bull: Fr. National Forest. The key informant and sensu lato (porcini) Cantharellus cibarius observational data permitted us to Fr.: Fr. (chanterelle), and Amanita construct a picture of social interactions at caesarea (Scop.: Fr.) Pers: Schw. field buying stations, buyer strategies for (Caesar's mushroom). The total market for attracting pickers, changes in prices over these is measured in billions of US dollars. the course of a season, and the ways in Over the past 100 years, harvests of many which various participants in the wild mycorrhizal mushrooms have declined morel harvest construct their livelihoods. dramatically, which has prompted interest In the discussion, we contrast our findings in the development of methods for their with the results of a recently published cultivation. So far only a few species of study on nontimber forest product truffles have been produced in commercial harvesters in the Eastern United States. quantities, although methods have been We end the report with a discussion of developed that may see the cultivation of management implications for managers species such as Cantharellus cibarius, and scientists. Lyophyllum shimeji (Kawam.) Hongo, and Lactarius deliciosus (L.:Fr.) Gray. Despite Mushrooms this, many of the most expensive By Sylvia Plath mycorrhizal mushrooms, including Tuber magnatum Pico & Vitt. and Tricholoma Overnight, very matsutake, have defied cultivation. Our whitely, discreetly, paper will attempt to highlight possible very quietly reasons why mycorrhizal mushrooms have proven to be so difficult to grow and how Our toes, our noses we might better manage mycorrhizal Take hold on the loam, mushroom forests to sustain natural Acquire the air. production. Nobody sees us, Commercial morel harvesters and Stops us, betrays us; buyers in western Montana: an The small grains make room. exploratory study of the 2001 harvesting season Soft fists insist on Rebecca J. McLain, Erika Mark Heaving the needles, McFarlane, Susan J. Alexander. GTR-643 The leafy bedding, (2005) 05-163. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/new Even the paving pubs.shtml Our hammers, our rams, Abstract: This exploratory study Earless and eyeless, examined aspects of the social organization of the commercial wild morel Perfectly voiceless,

5 Widen the crannies, With thanks to Britt in the Shoulder through holes. We July/August 2005 issue of The Mycophile. Submitted by Jean Johnson. Diet on water, On crumbs of shadow, Bland-mannered, asking Membership News

Little or nothing. Richard Winder is the co-author of "A So many of us! Case Study on Morel Mushrooms in So many of us! the Kootenays, BC, Canada" a paper which will be presented by Michael We are shelves, we are Keefer at an International Symposium Tables, we are meek, at Royal Roads University on Friday, We are edible, August 26th.

Nudgers and shovers Dr. Kang-Hyeon Ka and his family In spite of ourselves. finished their year in Canada and Our kind multiplies: returned to their home in Seoul, Korea, in mid-August. We shall by morning Inherit the earth. Note: Photos placed here in e-mail Our foot's in the door. edition are available in the website for a limited time. Editors note: Thanks to Dr. Steve Miller, University of Wyoming who posts this poem on his web page http://w3.uwyo.edu/~fungi/UW_Mycology.html If you like this poem and want to hear it read by Sylvia Plath, go to: http://archive.salon.com/audio/poetry/2001/03/19/plath/in dex

Book review

Jack in the Pulpit by Cynthia Riggs Fourth in a series of mysteries featuring the character Victoria Trumbull, a wise and sprightly nonagenarian. The story is set in a peaceful nook of Martha’s Vineyard where the sudden death of four people in one month has upset the island’s tranquility. Mushrooms are definitely involved. Although a little predictable at the end, the book is a good read and, as it is only 200 pages, could be knocked off in an afternoon.