BULLETIN OF THE PUGET SOUND MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY Number 435 October 2007 44TH PSMS WILD MUSHROOM SHOW Ron Post BEGINNING MUSHROOM ID WORKSHOP Colin Meyer To sign up for duties at the 44th Annual Wild Mushroom Show, come to the October meeting or call me at (206) 370–4487. What: PSMS Beginning Mushroom ID Course The publicity posters, de- Where: Center For Urban Horticulture, Douglas Classroom signed by trustee Molly Bern- When: Thursday Evenings, 7:00–9:00 PM, 10/18–11/08 stein, have received raves, and (four evenings) our publicity effort is under Cost: $35, cash or check payable to PSMS way. Get those posters that (bring on first day of class) were taken down put back up! Our T-shirts using the poster Book: Mushrooms Demystified, by David Arora image will be available at the Bring: Fresh mushroom specimens October meeting and also Contact: [email protected] at the exhibit, so get yours (for questions, or to register) before they sell out! At the PSMS will offer a beginning mushroom identification class this show our guest speaker, Tay- fall on four consecutive Thursdays, beginning on October 18. lor Lockwood, will be signing Classes will be held at the Center for Urban Horticulture, in the his new book after his talks Douglas classroom, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. both days. The sessions will be Thanks to trustee Brenda Fong for her effort with the Oct. 18 Introduction to Mushroom ID media and all our longtime Oct. 25 Identifying Mushrooms with Dichotomous Keys committee chairs. An exhibit floor plan is available, either at the Nov. 1 Cooking and Collecting membership meeting or in the PSMS hospitality room during the Nov. 8 Mushroom Toxins show. Hospitality will be in Isaacson Hall next door to the club The recommended text is Mushrooms Demystified, by David office. Also, the exhibit brochure will have a rough schematic of Arora. There are several copies available for classroom use from the grounds. the PSMS library, and the book will be available for sale on the Please, plan on collecting mushroom specimens on Thursday, first day of class. October 11, and Friday, October 12, if you can and, of course, Class cost is $35 for four sessions. For questions or to register, Saturday, too. And we will need other things: greenery, lichens, please send e-mail to [email protected] with your name(s). If and your helpful presence. you don’t have access to e-mail, you may call (206) 354–7789, Specimen drop-off for the show will begin at 4 PM on Friday, Oc- but e-mail is preferred. tober 12. Signs will direct you—just follow the mushrooms. Tray Registration is available for PSMS members only; please print arranging and transport begins at 7 AM on Saturday, October 13. off the membership form from the website (http://psms.org) and My special thanks to PSMS identifiers and the committee chairs. send it in if your membership is not current. Please confirm your You will not find their names here but you should get a call by registration, as classes often fill up. Friday, confirming your time slot. Don’t forget the ongoing potluck Please bring specimens of fresh mushrooms to class. Collect the in the hospitality room during the entire exhibit! whole fungus, including any root or cup at the base of the stalk. Specimens are best preserved by wrapping in foil or wax paper and Exhibit Chair: Ron Post putting them in the fridge, where they will last from several days (206) 370–4487 up to a week, depending on the species. You should make a spore Arts & Crafts Hospitality print, if you know how. (If you don’t, that’s OK. We will learn Book Sales Kids’ Table (Petting Zoo) how on the first day of class.) Take a few notes about where the Cooking & Tasting Membership mushroom was collected, and from what sort of habitat (whether Construction/Cleanup Mushroom Collection on wood or ground, what type of wood, and what type of trees it Decoration Poster Distribution grows under). Duff/Moss Collection Tray Arrangement Feel & Smell page 1 MEMBERSHIP MEETING Tuesday, October 9, 2007, at 7:30 PM at the Center for Urban Spore Prints Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle. is published monthly, September through June by the Our guest speakers this month are Tuula Niskanen and Kare PUGET SOUND MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY Liimatainen. Their presentation is titled “An Introduction to the Center for Urban Horticulture, Box 354115 Wonderful World of Cortinarius.” Tuula and Kare are both Ph.D. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 candidates at the University of Helsinki in Finland and are cur- (206) 522-6031 http://www.psms.org rently studying the taxonomy of Cortinarius and Ramaria using User name: Password: molecular, microscopic, and morphological methods. OFFICERS: Patrice Benson, President Milton Tam, Vice President Tuula Niskanen (left) and John Goldman, Treasurer Kare Liimatainen (right) Dennis Oliver, Secretary The Cortinarii are of in- TRUSTEES: Molly Bernstein, Kevin Bernstein, terest because of all the Colleen Compton, Marilyn Droege, Agaricales (gilled mush- Brenda Fong, Jamie Notman, rooms) found in boreal Cynthia Nuzzi, Lynn Phillips, forests, Cortinarius is the Kim Traverse, Doug Ward Ron Post (Immed. Past Pres.) genus that is the richest in ALTERNATE: numbers of species, with 2,000 alone in Europe, SCI. ADVISOR: Dr. Joseph F. Ammirati accounting for up to 60% of fall mushrooms in some locations. EDITOR: Agnes A. Sieger, 271 Harmony Lane, However, this genus is also one of the more poorly known. For Port Angeles, WA 98362 example, although 200 Cortinarius species to date have been [email protected] catalogued in Finland, the actual number of species in Finland is Annual dues $25; full-time students $15 estimated to be three times higher. Their research project is funded by the Finnish government and is called the Deficiently Known and Endangered Forest Species Research Programme, abbreviated as PUTTE in Finnish. CALENDAR Before the membership meeting, at 7 PM, Hildegard Hendrickson will present a thirty minute program for new members. She will Oct. 8 Master Gardener’s clinic, 4:00 PM, CUH atrium offer tips on hunting and identifying mushrooms and answer your questions. Oct. 9 Membership Meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH Oct. 13–14 Annual Exhibit, CUH Would people with the last names beginning with the letters L–Z please bring a plate of refreshments for the social hour. Oct. 15 PSMS Board Meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH Master Gardener’s clinic, 4:00 PM, CUH atrium Oct. 18–21 Breitenbush Mushroom Conference BREITENBUSH MUSHROOM CONFERENCE Oct. 20 Field Trip, Twanoh State Park Patrice Benson Oct. 22 Master Gardener’s clinic, 4:00 PM, CUH atrium Oct. 23 Spore Prints deadline The 23rd annual mushroom gathering at Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort is October 18–21, 2007, near Detroit, Oregon, in an Old Oct. 27 Field Trip, Deception Pass State Park (change) Growth forest. This year’s theme of “Mushrooms: Poisons, Pas- Oct. 26–28 PSMS-Mountaineers Joint Trip, Meany Lodge sions and Psycho Activity” will feature Dr. Michael Beug, Profes- Oct. 28 Master Gardener’s clinic, 4:00 PM, CUH atrium sor Emeritus of Evergreen State College and expert on the chemical and taxonomic aspects of both poisonous and psychoactive fungi. Nov. 5 Master Gardener’s clinic, 4:00 PM, CUH atrium Paul Kroeger will lecture about psychoactive mushrooms. Judy Roger, Hildegard Hendrickson, and Patrice Benson will provide further lectures on mushroom passions and mushroom hunting of BOARD NEWS Dennis Oliver the area. Chef Michael Blackwell will lead a gustatory journey The August board meeting was packed with items. PSMS in through the local edible mushrooms in a tasting workshop. Since conjunction with the Master Gardeners will offer Mushroom the mushrooms and weather seem to be cooperating, we are sure Mondays where the public can bring mushrooms for identification to have a fantastic time in this prime mushroom hunting area of and information. It should be great fun. Please contact Cynthia the Oregon Cascades. The hot springs will provide added relief to the weary legs and arms aching from Nuzzi ([email protected]) if interested in volunteering to help out at the table. The field trip schedule has been final- carrying lots of mushrooms to study and ized. Colin Meyers will be organizing mushroom classes this consume. Space is filling and limited, so fall (see article on page 1 for details). Preparations for the annual call Breitenbush to register. mushroom show are progressing: art contest, tee shirt design For reservations, call (503) 854–3320 or and the poster preparation. Taylor Lockwood and Kathy Casey e-mail your request to office@breitenbush. will be our speakers. Plus the board even had time to think about com. For additional information, phone the survivor banquet, and Jamie Notman has agreed to head the Patrice Benson at (206) 819–4842 or e-mail banquet committee. [email protected]. page 2 MUSHROOM OF THE MONTH, Aleuria aurantia (Fr.) Driving Directions: Take the Bremerton Ferry (a half hour ride) Fuckel Buck McAdoo from downtown Seattle, take Hwy. 3 southwest to Belfair, and MushRumors, Northwest Mushroomers Association, proceed west 8 miles on Hwy. 106 to the park. August-September 2003 October 27 Deception Pass State Park (elev. near sea level, 80 miles north of Seattle) The cosmopolitan Orange Peel Fungus looks just like its popular (Note change in date.) epithet—an orange peel on the side of the road. How many times have you reached for one, hoping for a little extra vitamin C, only A $5 parking fee is collected at the entrance unless you are camp- to be bummed by this fragile, colorful discomycete? Nonetheless, ing, in which case your camping receipt includes parking.