The Great Alberta Mushroom Foray 2012 Elk Island National Park
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The Newsletter of the Alberta Mycological Society Summer 2012 Editor’s note: In this issue, in eager ex- pectation of an abun- dance of Bison related portobellos, we are high- lighting the Agaricus as our feature mushroom. Enjoy! Martin Photo by M. Osis \ The Great Alberta Mushroom Foray 2012 Photo by M. Osis Elk Island National Park We often do not think about or realize how unique something is when it is sitting right in our back yard. Elk Island National Park is just such a place. With less than 3% of the Aspen Park- land protected, Elk Island is unique in North America as it is some of the last protected large blocks of Aspen Parkland. It has also been long known that the presence of large mammals also leave a significant impact on the landscape. Just look at downtown Edmonton or a typical feed lot. In Elk Island we have a historical presence both of Elk and of course Bison. Continued on page 4 2012 Executive President’s Message Alberta Mycological Society What good fortune we have had this spring! The forays that I have been pre- President: sent at have been well attended with exu- Rose O’Bertos berant members. These events have given Vice President: Vacant me the opportunity to meet a good number Secretary: of our awesome AMS Members and each Martin Osis time, to learn a little more about our craft. Treasurer: It is my wish that everyone attend as many Michael Avenati forays as possible, filling their baskets several times over. Newsletter: Aimee Gabriel Our Foray Coordinator has done an incredible job! We are so Media Relations: fortunate to have the expertise of long standing members to Melanie Fjoser get the proper permits for such interesting areas. As a child, I Membership: grew up near Elk Island, and it was just a given that you could Diane Murray not pick anything in the National Park, but not this year! We Foray Coordinator: have already been out there, collecting fungi on 3 separate oc- Bill Richards casions. Even the wardens have expressed an interest in Webmaster: Ryan Armishaw learning more and taking some instruction from some of our Past President: very knowledgeable members when they saw the diversity of Martin Osis what was found. Ministik was a real eye opener for me as to what can be found! Directors-at-Large: There were about 30 members in attendance, collecting an as- Honey Pell sortment of verpa, fresh oysters (not many mind you), and John Samoil monster-size morels. The morels were collected by what ap- Robert Simpson Pieter van der Schoot peared to be the youngest picker at the event (and he doesn’t even like mushrooms). He said they were easy to spot around Regional Reps: the edges of a pond. These mushrooms were the most per- Peace River - Ken Dies fect, freshest, juiciest humongous morels that I had ever seen Calgary & area — Asif Chaudry with my own eyes; I was so impressed! They were about the size and shape of an adult fist! Email Contact [email protected] The Summer Solstice at New Moose Hill Hall is a great event year after year. There was eager participation to go on many MAILING ADDRESS: forays where a good number of edibles were located. The food Alberta Mycological Society was heavenly (I tried every dish and enjoyed it all thoroughly). P.O. Box 1921, Standard Life Bldg. The weather was so incredible that it totally made up for the 10405 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, AB T5J 3S2 pouring rain we endured last year. I think this is probably one of my favorite events! WEBSITE ADDRESS: www.wildmushrooms.ws Speaking of events, we are whole-heartedly promoting Alberta-wide activities with great anticipation this year. For members located any distance from Edmonton, this is a great opportunity for you to parti- President’s message continued on page 5 Summer 2012 No. 2 2 www.wildmushrooms.ws fruiting body tend to be influenced by the The Genus Agaricus environment—what grows in the open By Paul Sinclair might even look different than what grows Most of us in North America are a little fa- in the shade. miliar with Agaricus mushrooms. The Agaricus mushrooms, even the grocery Agaricus genus contains the most culti- store mushroom, have been known to pro- vated and consumed mushroom in North duce severe gastro-intestinal upsets in a America, Agaricus bisporis, or the grocery small percentage of the population. We can store mushroom! If you are the average all avoid the poisonous Agaricus xantho- North American, you will consume a cou- dermus because it stains yellow when its ple pounds of A. bisporis this year. Mean- flesh is damaged. But well-known edible while, Agaricus is really the original species like Agaricus arvensis also bruise mushroom genus; all gilled mushrooms or age slightly yellow. Even the grocery were originally placed in the Agaricus ge- store mushroom can have a yellowish hue nus back in the 19th century when mush- after it sits in the fridge for a week. None rooms started getting identified. Back of this should discourage us from finding then if you knew what mushroom gills the delicious and ubiquitous meadow were, then you knew what an Agaricus mushroom (A. campestris) of course! mushroom looked like! Agaricus also contains one of the world’s In 2012, Agaricus is a pretty clear-cut ge- prized medicinal mushrooms. A native of nus to Brazil, the almond-flavoured A. blazei recog- (himematsutake in Japanese) is widely cul- nize. tivated in Japan to treat cardiovascular dis- The ease, hepatitis, high blood pressure, diabe- stalk tes, eczema--even immune disorders and gener- cancer! (See page 6) ally has The adjacent photos show an Agaricus spe- a ring, cies growing under a conifer at the Univer- but sity of Alberta last August. The 12 cm cap, lacks a skirt-like ring, bulbous base, faint yellow- volva, a Photo by M. Osis ing, and fact that mushroom is not fruiting sack at in great numbers suggests that we have the base of the stock. The gills of young Agaricus silvicola, or the Woodland Agari- specimens are generally pink, gradually cus. turning to dark brown as the mushroom matures. Agaricus edibles tend to have that familiar “Agaricus taste”. But despite the fact that Agaricus is a relatively easy genus to recognize and that Agaricus con- tains some of the world’s choice edibles, Agaricus is not necessarily the “safe” ge- nus it is sometimes described to be. First of all, Agaricus can be a baffling ge- nus to identify. Features we use to identify Agaricus such as odor, propensity to dis- color yellow, type of ring, and size of the Photo by P. Sinclair www.wildmushrooms.ws Summer 2012 No. 2 3 Great Alberta Mushroom Foray cont. from pg 1 Of course, the Alberta Mycological Society Aspen parkland runs in a thin band across the has a great interest in the fungal biodiversity Prairie Provinces and is a transition zone be- of which little is documented. This makes our tween the prairie grasslands and the Northern Great Alberta Mushroom Foray of special Boreal Forest. It stretches from southern Sas- interest not only to us but also to Elk Island katchewan and winds its way up to the Peace National Park. River country including a thin band dropping Elk Island is also famous for its Bison and is down into southern Alberta touching the foot- the only habitat that has had relatively brief hills west of Calgary. Aspen parkland has had absence of Bison. Historic numbers claim the major pressure from agriculture being a fa- presence of over 60 million Bison across North vourite habitat of eastern European settlers, America. By the early 1900’s the Bison popu- where similar habitats existed and who val- lation was near extinction. In 1906 the Cana- ued the presence of an abundance of wood. dian Government bought a genetically pure Bison herd from some Montana ranchers. The forested, or These Bison were destined for Buffalo Nation woodlands area is Park near Wainwright but were held in Elk Is- dominated by land due to the presence of a large fenced trembling aspen area. The herd was eventually moved to Populus tremu- Wainwright where they interbred with cattle loides, balsam and were exposed to bovine diseases and poplar Populus eventually the herd was wiped out. Luckily, a balsamifera, other few of the Bison, less than 50, that were poplars and brought to Elk Island, eluded capture and spruces, although made up one of the genetically pure Bison other species of herds. trees do occur. Large shrubs such This is very exciting from an ecological per- as red-osier dog- spective. The once dominant Bison, formerly wood, beaked wil- found across all of Alberta’s biomes, are now low, saskatoon, absent except in Elk Island National Park and chokecherry and Wood Buffalo National Park. Does their ab- pincherry, along sence affect the fungal biodiversity? This is a with the smaller question we want to start to answer. shrubs including The management at Elk Island National Park prickly rose, snow- Photo by M. Osis had the same question and invited the Alberta berry, beaked ha- Mycological Society to come and investigate. zelnut and low bush cranberry, form a dense We see this as a longer term survey and have entangled understory. Dense shrubbery is a expanded our commitment to surveying the typical feature in aspen-dominated forests. park throughout the whole summer culminat- Common herbs found in the woodlands in- ing with our annual “Great Alberta Mushroom clude: Lindley’s aster (Aster ciliolatus), north- Foray”.