Volume anuary ⁄ February Pipestem Foray …2015. 2. 7. · The NAMA Orson K. Miller Memorial Foray...

1 The Mycophile, January/February 2008

Volume 49:1 January ⁄ February 2008 www.namyco.org

NAMA Seeks New Exec Sec ..... 2

Wanted: 2nd VP for NAMA........ 2

NAMA Forays in France ............ 3

Recalling Margaret Weaver ....... 6

Book Reviews ............................ 7

‘07 Slide Contest Winners ..... 8, 9

NAMA Educ. Offerings ........... 10

T. Lockwood Entertains ............ 14

‘07 NAMA Awards .................. 15

The Editor Speaks ................... 15

Mushroom of the Month ......... 16

In this issue:

Pipestem Foray Overview

Continued on page 5

French foray participants; see story page 3.Photo courtesy of Alain Bellocq.

An East-Coaster’s Perspectiveby Dave Wasilewski

A West-Coaster’s Perspectiveby Debbie Viess

For about 25 years now I havehunted and studied wild mush-rooms, but I’ve never been active ina club. The NAMA Orson K. MillerMemorial Foray held in Pipestem,WV, this past August was the firstsuch event that I have ever at-tended.

I must admit that, as I drovesouth on Interstate 81 through twosolid hours of Pennsylvania rainfallon an eight-hour trip to a placewhere little or no rain had fallen forover a week, for the purpose ofhunting wild mushrooms, I felt a bitconflicted. My mind wanderedthrough conifer groves in thePoconos where imaginary boletespushed up through the duff. How-ever, upon arrival it did not take melong to realize that I was in a realgood spot, for everyone in atten-dance had some sort of interest infungi. There were scientists, mycol-ogy students, photographers, naturelovers, and all sorts of McIlmaniacslike myself. It was my entry into theShroomunity! Continued on page 4

As Steve Trudell rightly pointed outto me, don’t gloat about your mush-rooms until they are safely in yourbasket! The continuing “Curse ofNAMA” (some call it global warm-ing) slipped in the back door, behindthe earlier and heartening WestVirginia thunderstorms. Extremeheat and lack of rain for the previ-ous couple of weeks made condi-tions on the ground challenging forhopeful finders of fungi.

Luckily, my Southern Bellehostess with the mostest, ColemanMcCleneghan, took me on a fewpre-NAMA forays in Virginia, whereconditions were much improved. Myvery first walk ever along theAppalachian Trail, at the foot of Mt.Rogers, was delimited by a hugelocal species of lepidella: Amanitarhopalopus. This monstrous, off-white, deeply rooting amanita wasthe most abundant fleshy funguscollected; they covered most of aspecimen table in great stinkingpiles.

Better even than fat, stinkylepidellas were the big and beautifulfruitings of Amanita jacksonii, or theAmerican Caesar’s mushroom.Coleman and I found a fairy ring ofthese edible amanitas along theAppalachian Trail; they were cloakedin gorgeous shades of bright orange,in a moist, verdant and delightfullyunfamiliar woodland alive with tulippoplars and green-barked birch,rhodies and oaks.

Drawing the eye away from thespectacular amanitas were colorfulboletes with unfamiliar generic

names like Gyroporus and Pulvero-boletus, tucked among themany shades of forest green andbrown. Patches of Indian Pipe, theghostly white and transparentlydelicate, monotropic, saprobic plant,created more pockets of magic onthe Southern forest floor.

Farther along the deeply wornand root-crossed Appalachian Trail,

Chlorosplenium aeruginascens, one ofthe many delights found at Pipestem.

2The Mycophile, January/February 2008

The Mycophile is published bimonthlyby the North American MycologicalAssociation, 6615 Tudor Court,Gladstone, OR 97027-1032.NAMA is a nonprofit corporation;contributions may be tax-deductible.Web site: www.namyco.orgIsaac Forester, NAMA PresidentP.O. Box 1107North Wilkesboro, NC 28659-1107<[email protected]>

Judy Roger, Executive Secretary6615 Tudor CourtGladstone, OR 97027-1032<[email protected]><[email protected]>

Britt Bunyard, Content EditorW184 N12633 Fond du Lac AvenueGermantown, WI 53022<[email protected]>

Judith Caulfield, Production Editor1205 Hanover StreetChattanooga, TN 37405<[email protected]>

NAMA is a 501(c)(3) charitableorganization. Contributions to supportthe scientific and educational activi-ties of the Association are alwayswelcome and may be deductible asallowed by law. Gifts of any amountmay be made for special occasions,such as birthdays, anniversaries, andfor memorials.

Special categories includeFriend of NAMA: $500–900Benefactor: $1000–4900Patron: $5000 and up

Send contributions toJudith McCandless, Treasurer330 Wildwood PlaceLouisville, KY40206-2523<[email protected]>

Moving?Please send your new address,two weeks before you move, to

Ann BornsteinNAMA Membership Secretary336 Lenox AvenueOakland, CA 94610-4675<[email protected]>

Otherwise—you may not be gettingyour newsletter for a while. Eachissue, several Mycophiles arereturned as undeliverable because ofno forwarding address on file. NAMAis charged seventy cents for eachreturned or forwarded newsletter.

It was announced at the 2007 Board of Trustees meeting in Pipestem thatbecause of other commitments, Judy Roger, NAMA Executive Secretary, willno longer be able to serve in her current position. Judy has done a superbjob, and her skills as Executive Secretary will be sorely missed. The Boardof Trustees is eager to find a replacement for this most important post.

The executive secretary of NAMA is appointed by and serves at thediscretion of the Board of Trustees for a three-year term, which may beextended subject to annual review. The individual reports to the President ofNAMA and is a member ex officio of all NAMA committees except theNominating and the Awards Committees. This individual is responsible for:

◆ Lending administrative support to the Board of Trustees in keeping withthe NAMA Articles of Incorporation and the current Regulations and PolicyManual;

◆ Handling routine correspondence for the officers and the committeechairs of the organization;

◆ Referring non-routine phone calls and letters to the appropriate officer(s)or committee chair(s);

◆ Maintaining the organization’s office, mailing address, and telephone;

◆ Printing and distributing publications (e.g. The Mycophile, McIlvainea, theassociation’s directory, association brochures and materials);

◆ Distributing special mailings to new members and to life members as di-rected by the Membership Secretary;

◆ Duplicating and distributing reports of actions of the Board of Trusteesand the Association’s committees;

◆ Acting as chair of NAMA’s Inter-Society Liaison Committee;

◆ Assembling and distributing an annual report of NAMA that summarizesthe activities of NAMA during the year;

◆ Maintaining the historical files of the organization: minutes, lists ofofficers, lists of awards;

◆ Attending and participating in the Annual Meeting and meetings of theBoard of Trustees;

◆ Preparing and distribute the agenda for each business meeting of NAMAand its Board of Trustees prior to the annual meeting; and

◆ Submitting an annual report to the Board of Trustees.

A modest annual stipend of $5,000 goes with this position. The individualselected to fill the job will be announced following the 2008 TrusteesMeeting in McCall, Idaho. If you are interested in applying, please submit abrief biographical description of your qualifications and experience to RobertFulgency, NAMA 1st VP, 5620 Code Avenue, Edina, MN 55466.

Maggie Rogers has resigned, after several years as NAMA’s Second VicePresident, so that position is now open. Nominations may be submitted bythe general membership and must be received prior to the 2008 NAMAAnnual Meeting in McCall, ID, for distribution to the Trustees. All nomina-tions must include in writing (1) the nominee’s consent to serve and (2) abrief biographical description of the nominee’s qualifications and experi-ence. Please send nominations to Robert Fulgency, NAMA 1st VP, 5620Code Ave., Edina, MN 55436.

NAMA needs an EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Help Us Find Our New 2nd VP!Help Us Find Our New 2nd VP!Help Us Find Our New 2nd VP!Help Us Find Our New 2nd VP!Help Us Find Our New 2nd VP!


by Ursula Hoffmann

Seven intrepid NAMA memberswent off to France, courageouslycoping with strikes, delays, mis-placed baggage, and people talkingvery fast in a foreign language,especially every time we asked fordirections. Of course, all of us havea great sense of humor so wesurmounted most obstacles with alot of laughter.

PoitiersWe rented cars at the PARIS

airport and—via Chartres and itscathedral—drove to Poitiers to jointhe annual six-day meeting of laSociété Mycologique de France, theFrench mycological society, this yearhosted by the mushroom club ofPoitiers. A high school was thefacility, available during the stu-dents’ fall break. It had a cafeteriaand lecture hall, lots of labs forstudy, and two large classrooms forthe display: one for gilled, the otherfor non-gilled fungi and lichens.

Sorting was done outside, withpeople transferring collections fromtheir baskets into an open-weaveplastic tray. These trays werestacked in locations arranged by tripnumber; then the collections weretaken by people ready to study andidentify them. Named fungi went tothe recorder, who printed out a color-coded label for each collection plate(red for poisonous, other colors forgood edible, etc.) and were thenmoved to the display.

Most of the French attendeeswere very serious about mushroomsand had brought books, cameras,microscopes, notebooks. They spentthe afternoons and many eveningsworking with their and otherpeople’s collections and the display.

Every morning we rode by busto the foray site. We returned forlunch or, on longer trips, had lunchat a restaurant near the foray siteand then came back to the facility:

no box lunches—trust the French totake their food seriously.

There were a few optional vantrips in the afternoons for sightseeingor mushroom collection. We wereback for the bar and dinner, theevening lecture or study or thedisplay area, then went home to ourhotel for after-dinner drinks, conver-sation, a bit of sleep, a big breakfastbuffet (including all those very ediblecroissants and cheeses), and back forthe next day’s foray. No mycophagy,but champignons de Paris were onseveral lunch and dinner menus atthe school cafeteria.

While northern France hadenjoyed good rain and a spectacularmushroom fair in Paris the weekbefore, central and southern Francehad a drought, so the total checklistwas estimated at about 400 species,instead of the usual 1000 plus.Probably because of the lack of rain,there were fewer attendees than inother years, but about 170 made avery respectable showing, especiallyconsidering the fact that the annualNAMA forays draw about 200 whilethe total U.S. population is five timesthat of France.

HighlightsAll registrants received a mug

and a briefcase, with nametag, areamap, and a bound folder containingnot only the program but also adetailed description of each foraywith a colored topical map and a listof all mushrooms previously foundin that area.

We walked through the managedFrench forests: no old growth forest,no bushwhacking, but lots of pathsand trails. We met many people withfluent or minimal English, all verygracious and welcoming, whogenerously offered help and sharedtheir own best wines with us. Wereceived member status in theFrench mycological society and wereinvited to next year’s meeting, nearParis.

Oh, about wines: they wereflowing freely at both lunch anddinner. There was also a gala dinner,with a local comedian putting on anonstop performance in local dialect

beyond our linguistic capability, butwe enjoyed the great food, lots ofwine, and watching the Frenchlaughing tears.

Diane Derouen Chambliss, inher good French, invited our hosts tonext year’s NAMA foray andthanked them for their gracioushospitality while the rest of usflanked her on the stage.

In the region, the foray was abig deal: all the local newspaperscovered it, and the mayor of Poitiersheld a reception with special men-tion of us American guests. Thepeople in charge of the foray did afantastic job organizing, disseminat-ing information to the registrants,and publicizing the event to thetown. Congratulations and thanks!

ToursDr. Bart Buyck of Belgium was

our good companion and guide notonly during the time in Poitiers, butalso during the following weekwhen we were based in Tours,exploring the Loire Valley. There, wewent on another mushroom hunt ledby one of Bart’s acquaintances.

Several times, we visited thehuge and fascinating MushroomMuseum in St. Hilaire near Saumur.A friend of Bart’s owns the mu-seum, Bart being its scientificadvisor. The museum is in hugecaves hewn out of the local lime-stone. Part of the museum are thecaves for cultivating quite a varietyof mushroom species (some ofwhich we bought, cooked and ate:they were delicious); the other partshave large exhibits of cleverlypreserved fresh specimens and offreshly collected mushrooms—themuseum employs two mushroomcollectors—as well as big charts withmuch information. At each of ourvisits the museum was well at-tended by tourists and Frenchfamilies.

On other excursions, we sawcathedrals, castles, castle gardens,flower towns (parks, plazas, houses,gardens with spectacular flowerdisplays), some of the stunning so-

Continued on page 15

NAMA Foraysin France


Pipestem: An East-Coaster’sPerspective, cont. from page 1

So the meager prospects offinding, for instance, bagsful offresh chanterelles became relativelyunimportant. I did, in fact, spend alot of time foraging, but it was notthe type of foraging to which I amaccustomed because, on a NAMAforay, every species counts. Crustystuff growing on a dead branch maynot generally pique my interest, butsuch a fungus could turn out to be ofgreat interest to one of the mycolo-gists in attendance. A new type ofexcitement replaced the usualanticipation of finding a nice patchof edibles.

After registering, I found my wayto my room and met my roommateJim, a guy from western PA whowas about my age and who sharedmy enthusiasm for the outdoors. Agood night’s sleep in a comfortablebed left me well prepared for someserious foraging.

Luckily, the organizers of theevent had managed to do some lastminute hunting of their own—forvans. A well-known car rental outfithad lost the paperwork that wassupposed to guarantee our vehicles.Kudos to the people who hustled atthe last minute to get the transporta-tion in place!

A 30-minute ride took my groupto Little Beaver State Park. There thegroup split up into smaller units andtook to the various woodland trails.My group also included Tim, myfriend from MushroomExpert.com,and Miklos, an eagle-eyed, experi-enced mushroom hunter from MI.

A thunderstorm the previousevening must have left measurablerainfall in this area. My best findwas a patch of newly emergedCantharellus minor, which turned upin a small clearing nearby a creek. Ialso found a cluster of witheredHydnum repandum. Of course, therewas the usual assortment ofRussulas to be seen, except noweach one got harvested and put intoa bag. Something I had not antici-pated was the collection of verysmall fragile shrooms. Tim was niceenough to lend me an extra plastic

fishing lure container that he hadbrought along for the purpose oftoting these tiny specimens. (Later,Tim also gave me a large basket,which comes in handy when piecesof dead tree branch need to becarried.) We walked, joked around,and shared in the excitement offinding various fungi here and there.The entire morning seemed to fit intothe space of a single hour.

For the afternoon foray, I joined adifferent group. Some of these peoplewere members of the NJMA, and theWashington DC MA. I have been amember of the NJ club for a coupleof years now, but I had not previ-ously met many of the other mem-bers since I live over 100 miles fromthe places where most of the NJevents are held. John, an NJMAmember, his son Benjamin, and Ispent a fair amount of time on a highand dry trail that offered little in theway of fungi, but we certainly hadplenty to discuss.

Once back at the van, we saw aninteresting mushroom that Ilona, amember of the DC group, had found.It was a tall majestic gilled specimenwith a brown stalk that was shaggy/scaly below the ring, and a similarlyshaggy/scaly brown cap surface. Ihad never seen one of these. Ilonasaid that someone had suggested itmight be a type of Lepiota or maybea Pholiota, but I thought I recognizedit from the Audubon manual, which Ihappened to have stashed inside myknapsack. After leafing through thepages, I located pictures, and thendescriptions, of two Cystodermas thatseemed to share some of the samecharacteristics as the mushroom athand. Since Lincoff included acomment to the effect that there areabout 20 similar-looking Cystodermasfound in North America, I decidedthat this was likely a specimen fromthis genus.

Back at the lodge that served asour headquarters, I searched all thepre-sort and species display tables butcould not find this shroom or anyother of its kind. I asked for thewhereabouts of this interestingspecimen, but nobody had a clue.Part of the evening’s events included

a slide show that featured beautifulpictures of a wide variety of fungi.One of the pictures looked exactlylike the mushroom of currentinterest. It was called Leucopholiotadecorosa. That was it! At least now Iknew what it was.

The next day, Saturday, I raninto Ilona, who told me that shehad not submitted the specimenuntil Saturday morning. So onceagain I searched the tables for thisshroom. Apparently it had beensiphoned off as a specimen ofinterest to be preserved. Putting itonto a display table would haveresulted in its being handled bymany different people. This beauti-ful specimen must have beenspared that fate.

Back at home I Googled Leuco-pholiota decorosa and ended up atTom Volk’s Web site (TomVolkFungi.net). In his synopsis of the historyof the taxonomy of L. decorosa, Dr.Volk relates a story of a previousNAMA foray at which ultimatepossession of a single specimen ofthis same shroom had caused a bitof a controversy amongst some ofthe mycologists in attendance. Bythis time Leucopholiota decorosa hadmade its impression upon me as amushroom possessing great powers,in a sort of Tolkienesque sense.(Good thing there were no Hobbitsat Pipestem!) After reading myaccount of this episode on theMushroom Expert.com discussionboard, Debbie Viess kindly e-mailedme an excellent picture of the exactspecimen collected at Pipestem. Ithas been dried and stored in aherbarium in Chicago.

For the second day of foraging Ichose the Indian Falls area. Theword “falls” offered hope that watermight be nearby, but we soonrealized that not only were there noIndians to be found, neither werethere any falls! At one point I stoodatop the bone-dry rocky edge ofwhat is normally a high waterfall.But there were still fungi to becollected. And there was somethingkinda “Zen and the Art of Mush-room Collecting” about filling upmy basket with crusts and polypores.


Back at the lodge, one dead twigthat had some blackish crust on itseemed to really excite one of thescientists. I felt proud of myself forbringing in a specimen that ordi-narily would have failed to capturemy attention. Also, on this walk Ispent some time with a guy fromCleveland, Dan, and his youngdaughter Emily. It was rewarding toexperience the joy of discoverythrough the eyes of a child. Emilyspotted a few good specimens, but itwas Dan who had the best discoveryof this foray. In an area where rain-fall apparently often collects into awashdown, Dan spotted a nicecluster of fresh, perfectly formedArmillaria tabescens. I was surprisedthat such an arid area produced thisspecimen. Thursday night’s briefshower must have been just enough.

In summary, the entire eventturned out to be completely enjoy-able. Scouring the woods in thename of science in order to collectsuch things as eighth-inch-widepinwheels atop thread-thin stalksattached to dead leaves produces aunique sort of satisfaction. Andspending a few days among somany others who, in a variety ofdifferent ways, enjoy the study offungi was very satisfying. I wasimpressed by the respect the scien-tists showed for all of us amateurmycophiles, and vice versa.

Orson K. Miller’s field guide wasthe first one I owned. I used it exclu-sively during my first two or threeyears of learning about wild mush-rooms. Now it’s dog-eared and fullof scribbled notes on habitat, dates,and edible qualities. I gathered frompresentations at Pipestem that thestructure of this type of large-scaleforay pays tribute to Dr. Miller’svision of getting a bunch of pocketknife-totin’ McIlmaniacs togetherwith a team of microscope-peerin’scientists in order to produce a fruit-ful variety of “symbiotic” relation-ships. I cannot envision any betterway to honor Orson Miller’s legacythan to accomplish exactly this thing.

[Editor’s note: Dave is a member of theNJMA.]

Pipestem: A West-Coaster’sPerspective, cont. from page 1

I spotted a perfect, shiny-capped,cream-colored, pink-topped amanita.Its membranous partial veil, bulbousbase, and sac-like volva proclaimedit a member of section phalloides,but no one had a clue as to itsidentity. Deadly or not, it wascaptivatingly beautiful. I havephotos, illustrations and a beautifuldried specimen, all ready to send toyou, Rod!

But a gal can’t live on toxicmushrooms alone. There wereplenty of varieties of edible chanter-elles brought to the specimen tables:Cantharellus cibarius, C. minor, C.appalachiensis, C. lignicolor, C.lateritius, and the Eastern blackchanterelle, Craterellus fallax. Thebad news was two-fold: the fairlysubstantial “cibarius” that I collectednear Coleman’s cabin was tooworm-ridden to eat, and most of therest of the chanterelles, althoughhandsome and no doubt tasty, weretoo tiny to matter!

The thrills didn’t just come fromfungi. Those of us who stayed onthe east side of McKeever Lodge atPipestem State Park had a realtreat—in every room were floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto abalcony that overlooked a beautifulvalley, hidden river, and a series oflow mountains. In the mornings thisspectacular panorama was oftentouched by mist and fog, much likein the Bay Area, and at dawn anddusk by the leathery wings of batsthat roost nearby. Who sezmushroomers never look up??!

The top-notch NAMA staff ofmycologists included Bill Roody, ourlocal West Virginia mushroomexpert; Tom Volk, looking in thepink; Rytas Vilgalys, “CladeRunner” out of Duke University;Walt Sturgeon, another wonderfulWest Virginia mushroom expert;Walt Sundberg, a vastly experiencedtaxonomist and engaging teacher;Coleman McCleneghan, who gavean interesting and well-attended talkon her favorite group, Pholiota (andfinally taught me how to tell P.

squarrosa from the very similar P.squarrosoides); Pat Leacock, from theField Museum, documenting andvouchering our many specimens;and many other talented profes-sional and amateur mycologists.

The foray was, of course, dedi-cated to the memory of OrsonMiller, who had made many mush-room collections in Pipestem Parkand environs. Everyone sharedmemories of Orson, and his wifeHope was an inspiring and touchingpresence.

Even under adverse collectingconditions, when you get a couple ofhundred people in the field youalways find something. And whenyou are at the other side of thecontinent, in a wholly differenthabitat, you get to see lots of coolnew mushrooms! Here are some ofthe highlights:

I was speechless to find myselfamidst a fruiting of black earthtongues, Trichoglossum hirsutum(though they’re common to our areaas well), and delighted to find therarely seen blue-green fruit bodiesof the common Chlorosplenium(Chlorociboria) aeruginascens, whosemycelia also stains its woodysubstrate a beautiful blue-green (seephoto page 1). I couldn’t believe myeyes when I came across a logcovered in the lovely and amusingorange eye-lash fungus, Scutelliniascutellata. All of these fun bi-coastalfungi traveled back home with me,along with a couple of exclusivelyEastern oddities: the carrot-coloredCalostoma cinnabarina, a gelatinousstalked puffball; and Xylaria poly-morpha, the charmingly named“dead man’s fingers.” Appearingsoon at picnic near you!

In addition to our familiar but fartoo infrequently encounteredSparrasis crispa, the East also hasanother species of cauliflowerfungus: Sparassis spathulata. Thiscrisply delicious edible has bluntedges and resembles a stiff lacecollar from Elizabethan days.Another couple of fine and locallypopular edibles are two similar

Continued on page 6


Margaret Weaver of Eden Prairiehad a fondness for and curiosityabout the natural world that led herto become a local expert on fungiand discover three species of mush-rooms. More than 30 years ago shefound Suillus weaverae, named forher, near her family’s Crow WingCounty cabin. Weaver, 97, died inEden Prairie on Aug. 10.

Weaver, an Ohio native who hadlived in the Twin Cities, Faribault,and on Pelican Lake near Brainerdsince the 1930s, became interestedin mushrooms while hiking in theNerstrand–Big Woods area northeastof Faribault in the 1960s.

The mysterious appearance ofmushrooms fascinated her, saidDavid McLaughlin, professor ofplant biology at the University ofMinnesota and curator of fungi forthe Bell Museum of Natural History.Approaching experts at the univer-sity, she found that little had beendone in the documentation of nativeMinnesota fungi. She began readingall she could about them, sometimestranslating French and Germanworks about fungi. In 1964 she tooka graduate field course at theUniversity of Michigan, at the timea hotbed for mushroom research.

McLaughlin says that thoughWeaver was an amateur, her aca-demic work was scholarly. “She hasbeen a real contributor to what weknow about documenting Minnesotamushrooms,” he said. In 1980Weaver and McLaughlin published a90-page key to some of the fungi ofMinnesota for the Bell Museum.She was honored by the NAMA inthe mid-1990s, and was active in thestate association.

Before McLaughlin became ascholar of mushrooms, she and herhusband, Dr. Paul Weaver, who tookmany pictures of fungi that are inthe Bell Museum collection, col-lected stamps from all over, andwrote in Esperanto to correspondentsaround the world. Her husband diedin 1982.

Weaver graduated from OberlinCollege as an art history major and asinger. In the 1930s, she worked atseveral Ohio colleges. She moved toFaribault in 1939 with her husband,who practiced medicine there. Sheserved many civic organizations,including twelve years on the Fari-bault school board. She is survivedby three sons, six grandchildren, andfive great-grandchildren.

[Editor’s note: From an article by BenCohen in the Minneapolis StarTribune, reprinted here with permis-sion. Ms. Weaver was a member of theMinnesota Mycological Society; thanksto Ron Spinosa for submission.]

species of Lactarius: L. corrugis andL. volemis. Both bleed copious whitelatex, but corrugis has a brownercap, and volemus a more orangeone. I tried this mushroom twoyears ago at the PennsylvaniaNEMF, and it was excellent!

There were a number of standoutboletales. Coleman couldn’t wait tohave me slice into a pale and non-descript Gyroporus cyanescens in thefield; the context instantly turnedink blue, and the entire mushroomturned blue-green within a fewhours. Buttons of bright yellowPulveroboletus ravenelii, with theirflocculent partial veils, were distinc-tive. The brilliantly red-cappedBoletus frostii was also a stunner,although age and drying destroyedthe deep and lovely reticulations onits stipe.

I was thrilled to see manyexclusively eastern species ofamanitas. Section lepidella was wellrepresented by A. rhopalopus,daucipes, longipes, cokeri, and thecharming black and white A. onusta.Many grisettes and several othermembers of section vaginatae werealso collected: A fulva, ceciliae,jacksonii, “banningiana,” and theunnamed grisette “pseudo-protecta.”Section amanita was represented by

Pipestem: A West-Coaster’sPerspective, cont. from page 5

A. pantherina var. multisquammosa,A. farinosa and A. frostiana. Sectionvalidae sported the common A.brunnescens in brown and whiteforms, a few A. rubescens (not thesame “blusher” as our novinupta inthe West), A. volvata elongata, A.pseudo-volvata and the colorful A.flavoconia. Amanita bisporigera wasthe dominant member of sectionphalloidae (A. phalloides is not foundin the area yet.) And of course mylittle unidentified “cream and roses”amanita.

Phew! That’s quite a list, butonly a fraction of what could’vebeen found. Luckily for me, amani-tas still fruit in dry conditions.

For photos and more info onthese amanitas, visit Rod Tulloss’sWeb site and his Smoky Mountaincollections at http://pluto.njcc.com/~ret/amanita/key.dir/am_gsmnp.html#sectvagi.

Hope you enjoyed this vicarioustrip to the mushroomy Southeast.Travel is so broadening!

[Editor’s note: Debbie is a member ofthe Bay Area Mycological Society.]

Margaret WeaverHonored in Memory

The Mushroom Poems by JoyceHodgson (12 pages + photos) is stillavailable.

Joyce, a retired British biologistwho has just finished a Ph.D. inpoetry, has produced six pamphletsof poems on a variety of themes,including mushrooms.

You can order your copy of TheMushroom Poems for just $7, whichcovers postage and handling.

Inquiries and orders can bedirected to Britt Bunyard, editor ofThe Mycophile (contact infor-mation on page 2 of this issue).

Like to read poems aboutmushrooms? Who doesn’t!


B O O K R E V I E W S

Children and Toxic Fungi: TheEssential Medical Guide to FungalPoisoning in Children, by RoyWatling. Edinburgh: Royal BotanicGarden, 1995. ISBN 1-872291-16-3.Paper. 54 pp.

Although this isn’t a new book, it isstill available and deserves to bemore widely known. The author, aworld expert in the Bolbitiaceae,leccinums, tropical macrofungi, andmany other myco-subjects, was formany years the head mycologist atthe Royal Botanic Garden Edinburghand long has been a wonderfulteacher of and mentor for amateurmycologists in the U.K. and beyond.He wrote this small book in re-sponse to the finding that, in theU.K., roughly half of the suspectedpoisonings by fungi involvedchildren.

Thus, in this short handbook hedescribes and provides treatmentinformation for the fungi (includingsome non-poisonous ones) mostlikely to be consumed by grazingyoungsters. These are species foundin back yards, lawns, playing fields,and the like; he excludes thosecharacteristically found in forestsand woodlands as children are lesslikely to sample their fungal sur-roundings in those habitats. Becausemost of the fungi included also

Fungi Down Under: The FungimapGuide to Australian Fungi, by Patand Ed Grey. Melbourne: RoyalBotanic Gardens, 2005.

Fungimap is an Australia-widecommunity group dedicated toadvancing the knowledge of fungiand promoting their conservation.The main activity of Fungimap is amapping project for macrofungi,focusing on 100 readily identifiabletarget species. This compact volumeis a guide to those 100 species and,because those species cover a widerange of morphotypes (gilled mush-rooms, boletes, polypores, corals,etc.), it can serve as a generalintroduction to macrofungi for thosenew to the field.

After the foreword, preface, andextensive acknowledgments, thebook consists of three main parts.The first part is an introductorysection providing backgroundinformation on fungi and how theyare classified, as well as how-toinformation on observing andidentifying them. The second is themeat of the book, comprising the100 species descriptions. The thirdpart consists of six appendices,including a glossary, list of syn-onyms, pronunciation guide, mean-ings of scientific names, a list ofreferences, and background informa-tion about Fungimap.

The species treatments arearranged one species per page. Theyinclude common and scientificnames, a capsule description thatincludes habitat information, a moredetailed description, brief discussionof look-alikes, good- to excellent-quality color photos (typically twophotos per species, one of whichincludes callouts of the key identifi-cation features), and a map ofAustralia showing the recordeddistribution of the species.

The layout is attractive andfunctional, but I have two com-


occur in North America (e.g., Agro-cybe praecox, Conocybe filaris, Maras-mius oreades, Clitocybe dealbata, andPanaeolus foenisecii), much of theinformation will be of use to thoseof us on this side of the Atlantic.

Watling first introduces eightmajor toxicity categories and theirassociated symptoms, and provides aflow chart that uses the observedsymptoms to pin down the particularcategory. The potential causativefungi are listed along with pagereferences for the descriptions andtreatment information. Each two-page spread deals with one or twospecies. The information includestoxicity category, key characters ofthe mushroom, medical symptoms,treatment, habitat, general notes,and general, technical, and medicalreferences. Each species is illus-trated with a color photo, and manyof Roy’s simple but effective linedrawings of fruit bodies and micro-scopic features are included. Thedescriptions are written in non-technical language.

In cases where two species aretreated on the same pages, they aredesignated “A” and “B” and discussedas such. I found this somewhatconfusing and suspect that it wouldbe even more so if I were a franticparent whose child had just wan-dered into the kitchen with a mouth-ful of mushrooms. The photos are abit small and their quality is varied—some are good, while others are toodark or fail to show the key featuresof the fungus. The line drawingswill be especially helpful in thesecases.

For those who are likely to becalled by the local emergency roomor neighbors for assistance in thecase of mushroom ingestions, thiswould be a useful library addition.

—Steve Trudell, Seattle, WA

[Ordering information: Royal BotanicGarden Edinburgh, www.rbge.org,e-mail <[email protected]>]


Slide ContestWinners

for 2007

JA

F H

CE


Pictorial OpenFirst Place:Stereum ostrea, by Walt Sturgeon ................. ASecond Place:Ramaria sp., by David Work .............................BThird Place:Hydnellum peckii, by Ron Pastorino ............... C

Honorable Mention: Xeromphalina campanella,by David Work; Clavulinosis fusiformis, byNoah Siegel; Leucopholiota decorosa, by NoahSiegel; Albatrellus caeruleoporus, by NoahSiegel; Rhodotus palmatus, by Walt Sturgeon;Stropharia rugoso-annulata, by Noah Siegel;Geastrum quadrifidium, by Lawrence Leonard;Polyozellus multiplex, by Noah Siegel

Documentary OpenFirst Place:Agaricus arvensis, by David Work .................. DSecond Place:Leucopholiota decorosa,

by Walt Sturgeon..........................................EThird Place:Tremiscus helvelloides, by Noah Siegel .......... F

Honorable Mention: Pleurocybella porrigens;by Charles Fonaas; Mycena pura, by NoahSiegel; Hypholoma sublateritium, by WaltSturgeon

Judges’ OptionWinners:Look What I Found (Calvatia gigantea),

by Dick Dougall ............................................ GChromelosporiun coerulescens

2 stages 4.5 X, by Lawrence Leonard ........ HBraconid Wasp on Pleurotus ostreatus,

by Charles Fonaas ......................................... J

PO-2 Ramaria sp.

DB

G


N A M A E D U C A T I O N A L O F F E R I N G S

Catalog of Educational Programs onMushrooms and Other Fungi

Enrich your meetings and teaching sessions withNAMA slide and video programs. When ordering,please allow plenty of time for packing and shipping byour volunteer. All programs have written scripts, andmost also include a narrative on audio cassette. Thecassettes are not cued for automatic advance. Someprograms are now on videotape.

To order: Write, call, or e-mail Carlene Skeffing-ton, giving your name, street address (no P.O. boxes),date you need the program (allow time for previewing),alternative program choice, and phone number whereyou can be reached. If you wish a confirmation, pleaseenclose a self-addressed postcard with correct postage.

Cost: These programs are available on loan toNAMA members and NAMA-affiliated clubs at nocharge; but due to financial restraints, we are request-ing voluntary contributions (suggested amount: $5 to$10 per program) to cover the costs of outgoing postageand upkeep. Checks should be made payable to NAMAand enclosed with the program return.

Non-members pay $20 per program; include withyour order form a check made payable to NAMA.

After use, please return programs promptly via firstclass (i.e., priority) mail, insured for $50 per program.UPS or similar commercial carrier is fine, too, andusually includes up to $100 insurance. Please returnthe enclosed form or pertinent information so that wecan verify your return of borrowed materials.

Address for orders and return shipments: CarleneSkeffington, 505 W. Hollis St., Ste. 109, Nashua, NH03062, phone (603) 882-0311, email <[email protected]>.

We encourage nonmembers to join NAMA inorder to rent our programs at the member rates.

Programs for Rent

Our programs are copyrighted and are not to be used forcommercial purposes.

1. Diversity of the Mushroom World. Steve Trudell.45 min. 138 slides. This is a beginners’ program.Lifestyles of mushrooms, where they live, and whatthey do, with emphasis on the variety of forms, colors,etc. No audio.2. The Gilled Fungi: The Friesian Method of Classi-fication. Dr. David Hosford & Kit Scates-Barnhart. 40min. 79 slides. Explains and illustrates with diagramsthe terminology and stature type of the Friesiansystem. This system has been in use for 150 years.Features identification without using a microscope.

3. Gilled Fungi: The Friesian Genera. Dr. DavidHosford & Kit Scates-Barnhart. 60 min. 80 slides. Formushroom identification classes and advanced stu-dents. Demonstrates which genera of each spore coloroccur in each stature type and explains how to tellthem apart. Most effective if used after program #2.Programs 4–11 are a series intended to help the studentlearn to identify a wide variety of common mushrooms,including edible and poisonous species. Program 4 shouldbe viewed first, but the others can be used in any order.

4. Introduction to the Major Groups of Mush-rooms. Dr. Michael Beug. 40 min. 80 slides. A generaloverview of mushroom identification, with music back-ground. May be substituted for program 1. This is a newprogram and not a revision of #4.

5. Gilled Mushrooms I: White Spored. Dr. MichaelBeug. 48 min. 80 slides. VHS video available. IncludesAmanita, Lepiota, Hygrophorus, and Russula families.6. Gilled Mushrooms II: White Spored. Dr. MichaelBeug. 43 min. 80 slides. VHS video available. IncludesArmillaria, Mycena, Flammulina, Collybia, Marasmius,Clitocybe, Laccaria, Lentinus, Pleurotus, and others.7. Gilled Mushrooms III: Pink to Brown Spored. Dr.Michael Beug. 42 min. 80 slides. VHS video available.Covers Pluteus, Volvariella, Entoloma, Paxillus, Gym-nopilus, Pholiota, Heboloma, Cortinarius and others.8. Gilled Mushrooms IV: Purple-Brown to BlackSpored. Dr. Michael Beug. 36 min. 80 slides. VHSvideo available. Discusses Agaricus, Stropharia, Psilo-cybe, Coprinus, Panaeolus, Chroogomphus, and more.9. Non-Gilled Mushrooms I. Dr. Michael Beug. 42min. 80 slides. VHS video available. Chanterelles,boletes, hydnums, and polypores.10. Non-Gilled Mushrooms II. Dr. Michael Beug. 47min. 80 slides. VHS video available. The clavarias andgasteromycetes including puffballs and bird’s nestfungi. Also the Hymenogastrales, the false puffballs.11. Non-Gilled Mushrooms III. Dr. Michael Beug. 43min. 80 slides. VHS video available. Ascomycetes andHeterobasidomycetes. Includes morels, false morels, andjelly fungi; also discusses slime molds and other fungi.12. Amanitas of the Pacific North West. JanetLindgren. 32 min. 62 slides. An overview of some ofthe many Amanitas to be found in the Pacific North-west. Includes a chart of the subgenera and sections ofthe genus Amanita. Reviewed by Dr. Rodham Tulloss.13. Microscopy in the Study of Mushroom Spores.Dr. Leo J. Tanghe. 40 min. 79 slides. For generalaudiences. Clearly explains how to use a microscopeand prepare slides for observation. Uses photomicro-graphs to explain the diversity and characteristics ofspores for the accurate identification of mushrooms.


14. The Ultrastructure and Diversity of Mush-rooms. Paul Stamets. 40 min. 74 slides. The scanningelectron microscope reveals the three dimensionaldetails of mushroom spores and tissues.15. Photographing Fungi. Two parts. HarleyBarnhart. 70 min. 156 slides. Part I: A basic treatmentcovering the choice of subjects, equipment and filmcharacteristics, use of natural light, exposure, andcomposition. Suited for audiences with limited photo-graphic skills. Part 2, a more advanced treatmentencompassing techniques for electronic flash andmacrophotography (extreme close-ups).16. Poisonous and Hallucinogenic Mushrooms(revised). Dr. Michael Beug. Part I, 35 minutes, 40slides. Part II, 30 minutes, 40 slides. May be shown asone long program or two short ones. Includes a 23" x37" wall chart, “Diagnosis and Treatment of MushroomPoisoning,” by Kit Scates-Barnhart. Suitable for generalaudiences, students, or physicians. Explains the effectsof ingesting toxic mushrooms. Covers toxin groups,their chemical compositions, and symptoms. Toxicspecies are described. Available on the Web: http://www.evergreen.edu/user/library/tesce/mushroom/phm.

17. Mushrooms: Macro to Micro. Kim Emmons &Cara Styles. 50 min. 157 slides. Kim and Cara havecreated a fascinating mycophotographic journey fromnatural habitats to the microscopic world of fungi.Covers more than thirty species. A guided trip into thelanguage of microscopy and the inner workings offungi and slime molds. Appropriate for generalaudiences and mycology students.18. Mushrooms for Color. Copyright 1989, DavidMarks Productions. 28 min. VHS Video. A visual recordof mushroom-dyeing. Includes scenes from Californiaand Sweden. Much of the footage is from the FourthInternational Fiber and Fungi Symposium and Exhi-bition, Mendocino CA, 1988. Suggested for use alongwith program #19.19. Mushrooms for Paper. Copyright 1993, DavidMarks Productions. 10 min. VHS Video. A how-todemonstration and a record of the opening night of theExhibition of Mushrooms for Paper at the MendocinoArt Center in October, 1992. Useful for schools andother groups. Suggested for use in conjunction withprogram #18.20. A Guide to In-Camera Editing. Copyright A FirstGeneration Video Production. 20 min. VHS Video.Includes a pamphlet. A quick and easy way to edit asyou go when taping speakers and documenting events.21. Morels, Truffles, and Other Spring Fungi. Dr.Michael Beug. 40 min. 80 slides. VHS video available.Includes morels, false morels, cup fungi, truffles, falsetruffles, puffballs, earthballs, and gilled and poredmushrooms likely to be found in spring. Available onthe Web: http://www.evergreen.edu/user/library/tesce/mushroom/mtsm/mtsm.htm.

22. Cooking with Hope. Hope Miller. 58 slides. Audiotape not yet available. While traveling with her world-famous mycologist husband, Dr. Orson K. Miller, Jr.,Hope had the time and supplies of mushrooms toexperiment and developed many creative recipes andcooking techniques. She shares some of these with you.23. Mushrooms in Kansas. Ron Meyers. 45 min., 80slides. Covers some of the surprising diversity ofmushrooms found in Kansas, many of which probablyalso are found in the other states of the Great Plains.24. Winning Slides from NAMA Photo Contests.This is not a formal program, but we will assist you inobtaining some of our most beautiful slides for adiscussion or delightful presentation of your owndesign. Call for more information.25. Introduction to Mushrooms. Dr. Michael Beug.50 min. 80 slides. An introductory program for allaudiences that covers the most common edible andpoisonous mushrooms as well as the best cultivatedmushrooms. The program is intended to guide theviewer to the best edible species and away from themost dangerous species. While the emphasis is onmycophagy, attention is also paid to the role ofmushrooms in the environment and in human atti-tudes. Available on the Web: http://www.evergreen.edu/user/library/tesce/mushroom/introm.

26. Introduction to Fall Mushrooms. Dr. MichaelBeug. 45 min. 80 slides. Focuses on the commonbasidiomycetes found during the fall season withcomments about habitat and ease of identification. Themushrooms represented are from throughout NorthAmerica with a slight bias towards the species found inthe Pacific Northwest. Available on the Web: http://www.evergreen.edu/user/library/tesce/mushroom/if.

NEW Video ProgramsAvailable to members and affiliated clubs for a periodof two weeks free of charge except for return postage.27. A Walk in the Woods. Dr. Samuel Ristich. A groupof mushroomers are led on a walk in the woods withSam as the leader.28. After the Ashes Cool: A Look at Post FireFungi. Dr. Nancy Smith Weber. A thoroughlyresearched and informative slide lecture on the fungithat grow in forest burn sites. It was filmed at ameeting of the New Mexico Mycological Society.29. An Introduction to Mushrooming Basics.Dianna Smith videotaped Don Shernoff and theConnecticut–Westchester Mycological Society on twofall walks as Don covers all the important aspects ofmushrooming for beginners. He explains mushroomingin a serious, thoughtful, and intelligent manner anddraws your interest as you follow him on the walk.Dianna produces videotapes on nature and gardeningtopics for a weekly cable TV program in New York.1 hour. (Available for purchase—see page 13.)



NAMA Mushroom Teaching KitsIn addition to the NAMA Eastern Mushroom TeachingKit, we are now offering a second Mushroom TeachingKit with emphasis on the fungi of the Western sectionof the United States and Canada. Both of theseprograms are available for rental through our NAMAEducation Section programs for grades K–8 (K–12).

The kits are a teaching tool for teachers, naturalists,and clubs, and for use at mushroom and garden fairs.The contents of the kits are similar, with somegeographical variation in the slides, dried fungalmaterial, and spore prints.

These kits provide

• Hands-on classroom aids

• Activity ideas that include artistic, cultural andscientific approaches to fungi

• Basic information necessary to teach grades K–8about fungi. Basic information is divided into gradesK–3 and 4–8. It can be used for a 45–60 minutelesson or over an extended period of time. It can alsobe adapted for use in grades 9–12.

The kits contain

• Lesson ideas and activities for grades K–12 relatingto fungi

• Illustrations of fungi on 4" x 5" poster board

• 9 overhead transparencies illustrating basicmushroom anatomy, the variety of shapes and spore-bearing surfaces of fungi, and fungi ecology

• Laminated spore prints

• Mycological Society of America’s “What You Can Dowith Mycology” posters on the subject of careers inmycology

• NAMA poster on mushroom poisoning

• 35mm slides of different fungi

• 25 plastic hand lenses

• Dried fungi samples

• Foam blocks and skewers (to mount fresh specimensfor drawing in the classroom)

• Large magnifying glass on a stand

• “MykoCD” from MykoWeb

• 2 videos on the growth of slime molds

• Taylor Lockwood’s DVD of his “Treasures of theFungi Kingdom” shows

• Teaching materials developed by Dr. Walter Sundberg

• Wool samples made with fungal dyes and “FungalElf,” all by Sue Hopkins

• Books: Katya Arnold and Sam Swope, Katya’s Book ofMushrooms; David Arora and Jeannette Bowers,Mushrooms of the World Coloring Book; EmilyJohnson, North American Mushroom Photo Postcards;Bryce Kendrick, A Young Person’s Guide to the Fungi;Nancy Parker, A New Home for ’Lil Gnome

Kit Rental Information

The rental fee for each program for NAMA membersand affiliated clubs is $40; for non-members the fee is$50. The program is the property of the authors and ofNAMA and is not to be copied or used for commercialpurposes. We encourage nonmembers to join NAMA inorder to rent our programs at the member rates. The renterwill pay return postage and $100 insurance. Send arequest to rent the kit for one week to ten days,together with a check or money order made out toNAMA, to

Eastern Mushroom Teaching KitCarol Dreiling380 Curtis Parker RoadAlexander, NC 28701-9667(828) [email protected] / (828) 254-6199

Western Mushroom Teaching KitMaggie Rogers1943 SE Locust Ave.Portland, OR 97214-4826(503) 239-4321

Acknowledgments: Many thanks to NAMA memberswho contributed to the contents of the kits: Dean Abel,Carol Dreiling, Louise and Bill Freedman, CatharineGunderson, Susan Hopkins, Emily Johnson, TaylorLockwood, Theresa Oursler, Nancy Parker, SamuelRistich, Maggie Rogers, Sandy Sheine, Allein Stanley,Walt Sundberg, Mike Wood. If you would like to additems to the Mushroom Teaching Kits, please sendthem to Carol Dreiling or Catharine Gunderson. Wewould like objects such as dried fungi, spore prints,books, videos, and other teaching materials.

NAMA Educational Materials, continued from page 11

New! NAMA Educational Committee DVDs

Five new educational DVDs are now available fromNAMA and many more are planned over the comingtwo years. The DVDs contain PowerPoint Presentationswith an Audio track and a Word file of the text that canbe printed out and on occasions when audio is notavailable. They also contain a file about NAMA andinstructions on how to use the DVD. The DVD can beviewed as a narrated slide show with narration orindividual frames can be viewed in any order whiledisplaying the text below each frame. Requests for theDVDs should be handled the same as requests for slide-tape programs and should be addressed to Carlene


Programs for Sale

Diagnosis and Treatment of Mushroom Poisoning.Kit Scates-Barnhart. Poster, 24 in. x 36 in. An excellentgift for clubs to give to hospitals and clinics. It is animportant addition to any club’s educational resources.Make check for $24.95+$4.50 shipping and handlingpayable to Fungal Cave Books

1943 S.E. Locust Ave.Portland OR 97214-4826

Pronouncing Names of Fungi. Cassette tape and script. Features the recorded voicesof Dr. Alexander H. Smith and Dr. Rolf Singer. Side Onecontains Dr. Smith giving American pronunciationswhile Side Two has Dr. Singer with the Europeanpronunciations. Helps you decide which pronunciationsyour friends will prefer! Make check for $7.75 payableto NAMA Education Committee and mail to NAMAPronouncing Tape

1943 SE Locust Ave.Portland OR 97214-4826

Slime Molds I, II, & III.These three historic films have been collected on onevideo, running about 65 minutes. The color films wereprepared by James Koevenig in 1961 at the Universityof Iowa under the direction of C. J. Alexopoulos, G. W.Martin, and R. T. Porter. The video uses live-action andtime-lapse photography, photomicrography, and anima-tion to teach about the fascinating world of myxo-mycetes. Tapes will be prepared as individual orders arereceived, so allow extra time. Cost per tape is $29.95+$5.00 shipping and handling ($7.00 s/h overseas).

The regular tape is in NTSC format (for NorthAmerica) but is available in SECAM (France and others)or PAL (Spain, Germany, and others) by special order.Specify the required format and send check or moneyorder for $46.95 (shipping included), payable to NAMA,to Dean Abel

Biological Sciences 138 BBUniversity of IowaIowa City, IA 52242

Notes: If you know of a slide, audio or video productionthat should become a part of this NAMA service, pleasecontact Sandy Sheine, Education Committee Chair, P.O.Box 81640, Rochester, MI 48308, (248) 652-9498,<[email protected]>.

Skeffington, 505 W. Hollis St., Ste. 109, Nashua, NH03062, phone (603) 882-0311, email<[email protected]>.

Introduction to MushroomsDVD by Michael Beug (55 minutes): This program is anupdate of the Introduction to Mushrooms slide-tapeprogram by Michael Beug. It covers nearly 80 speciesof both gilled and non-gilled mushrooms that arecommon in many regions of North America, plusseveral species that are readily cultivated. The specieslist for the program includes all of the author’s favoriteedible mushrooms plus the most dangerous of thepoisonous mushrooms.

Naming Mushrooms: Who’s My Daddy? DVD byMichael Beug (24 minutes): This program is a light-hearted look at 49 of the author’s favorite commonmushrooms and why their scientific names havechanged over the 30 years he has been photographingmushrooms. You will learn how the changes reflect ourongoing understanding of genetic relationships, ourdiscovery that sometimes our mushrooms which carryEuropean names are different than their Europeancounterparts, our discovery that sometime mushroomsthat we thought to be one species are several speciesand why common names have even more pitfalls thanscientific names.

Morels and Other Spring AscomycetesDVD by Michael Beug (23 minutes): This programcovers many different types of morels plus a range ofother wide-spread spring Ascomycetes focusing onwhen and where they are found and giving tips oncorrect identification. Over 44 species are discussed.

Snowbank Mushrooms and Western SpringBasidiomycetesDVD by Michael Beug (20 minutes): This programfocuses on the unique ecology of the westernsnowbank mushrooms. These fungi fruit in the RockyMountains, Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains andare typically not found in the mountains of Europe or inthe eastern United States. The author has also includedmany of the common spring Basidiomycetes that arenot part of the snowbank mycoflora but can be found atlower elevations in the West.

Reflections on Poisonous MushroomsDVD by Michael Beug (43 minutes). This program is acomplete revision of the Poisonous and HallucinogenicMushrooms slide-tape program. Dr. Beug chairs theNAMA toxicology committee and draws on 30 years ofmushroom poisoning reports in the NAMA database todiscuss all of the mushrooms that have been reportedto cause fatalities in North America and the mushroomsthat are most frequently involved in cases ofgastrointestinal distress.


UNC Crowd Spored, NotBored, by Taylor’s “MostBeautiful Mushrooms”

Popular photographer and lecturerTaylor Lockwood, portraying himselfas an “aesthetic mycologist,” enter-tained a full house of experiencedand novice lovers of fungi onSeptember 11 in Wilson Library atthe University of North Carolina atChapel Hill. Lockwood, who lookslike Indiana Jones, exuded charmand a sense of adventure whileregaling the audience with his tales.

Lockwood described the audienceas the largest turnout yet during thepromotional tour of his new book,Chasing the Rain. The book’s subtitle,“My Treasure Hunt for the World’sMost Beautiful Mushrooms,” aptlydescribes his vibrant narrated slideshow of digital images.

Lockwood’s pioneering work hasled to international acclaim frommycologists, mushroom enthusiasts,photography critics, and naturelovers. For over 20 years and in over30 countries, Lockwood has soughtout the most striking and astonish-ing members of the fungal kingdomin order to share his own enthusi-asm for the beauty of mushrooms,and to combat Americans’ singularapprehension of them. His visitsfrequently garner headlines such as“Photographer Attacks FungalPhobia in America.”

Lockwood enhanced the abun-dant specimens shown with hisextensive knowledge of mushroomsand his exciting stories of the fellowenthusiasts and experts he has met

in Tibet, Australia, Europe, Africa,Japan, India, Indonesia, and NorthAmerica. His story of transformationfrom rock-and-roll violin player tosuccessful building contractor toman of leisure to mushroom aficio-nado kept the audience laughing andamazed. But their amazementturned to outright awe as thephotographs began to roll.

Confessing to a particularattraction for blue mushrooms,Lockwood didn’t hesitate to shownumerous stunning variations ofthat hue, but there were alsooranges, yellows, reds, greens, andeven brown ones that didn’t lookdrab. The images of the fungi thatgrow on termite hills in Australiawere fascinating. Hearing hisnicknames for the fungi, such as“blue potato mushroom,” “laundrylint mushroom,” and “jungle cups,”added to the fun.

Lockwood also loves the chal-lenge of photographing mushroom’sundersides, so many of the imagesgave the audience a chance to seeluminous underneath views of theglow and translucence of gills andstems. He also spoke about hisevolving photographic techniques,interesting cultural exchanges, andmishaps and surprises, such asalmost stepping into the maw of adeadly tree snake in China.

The presentation at UNC wassponsored jointly by Friends of theLibrary and the North CarolinaBotanical Garden. In addition toChasing the Rain, Lockwood is alsothe author of Treasures from theKingdom of Fung, and several DVDsand educational videos aboutmushrooms. —Jeffery Beam

[Editor’s note: Jeffery Beam is theAssistant to the Biology Librarian,Botany Section, at UNC and theauthor of 16 works of poetry andcriticism, including the award-winningAn Elizabethan Bestiary: Retold andWhat We Have Lost (spoken wordCD), Visions of Dame Kind, and—with Lee Hoiby—the song cycle Life ofthe Bee.]

plaints about the photographs. First,the main photo is done as a vignette,so the environment of the fungus(which I consider of great impor-tance for identification) is usuallynot apparent. Second, the otherphoto, which usually does show theenvironment, is in many cases toosmall to be effective. Despite thosequibbles, the treatments shouldallow for ready identification of thelittle ping-pong bat, velvet para-chute, small dung button, and theother 97 interesting fungi covered bythe project.

An innovative addition is a colorchart provided inside the back coverfor those interested in preparingaccurate descriptions of the fungithey find. The chips are arranged byhue (in eight groups, from brown-yellow to green) and are denoted bynumbers from 1 to 190. Perhapswhen someone has time, he or shecan compile a correspondence chartwith the Ridgway, Methuen, andMunsell color guides to make thechart more widely useful.

This is a fine little book andwould serve as a good, albeit brief,introduction to Australian fungi forthose planning a trip down under. Ifyou aren’t planning a trip, a skimthrough these 100 fungi might make

you consider one. The idea of amapping project also provides amodel for NAMA and might help usincrease our role in conserving fungiand their habitats nationwide.

—Steve Trudell, Seattle, WA

[Available through Fungimap BookShop, www.rbg.vic.gov.au/fungimapAUD$29.95 (Paperback), plusAUD$8.00 postage and handling]

Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, continuedfrom page 7


called “troglodyte” towns (housesbuilt into and of the local whitelimestone cliffs, with flowersproviding the color). Last but notleast, we visited wine tasting cavesto purchase great Loire wines andenjoyed wonderful meals as well aseach other’s company.

Our last full day was in Paris,with a tour of the natural historymuseum guided by Bart Buyck and agreat farewell dinner near theCathedral of Notre Dame.

We did get lost quite often:whenever our informants told us theplace we were looking for would bereally easy to find, we just knew wewould get lost again—and so we did,giggling. Our really big problem wasnot having enough time to sleep ordo more than get a mere taste of themany “entertainments” assaultingour brains, eyes, noses, palates.

Yes, we want to do it again! Willyou join us? All that is needed is alove of mushrooms and adventure!

Each year NAMA’s Award for Contri-butions to Amateur Mycology recog-nizes someone who has contributedextraordinarily to the advancementof amateur mycology. Its recipientshave often extensively conductedworkshops, led forays, written orlectured widely about mushroomsand identifying mushrooms, all on anational or international level.Selection is made by a committeeconsisting of past award winners,and the award includes a plaque andlifetime membership in NAMA.

This year’s winner of the NAMAAward for Contributions to AmateurMycology has had a career inmycology since she was in diapers.She comes from a family of mycolo-gists and is the first NAMA Awardwinner with a parent who won thisaward before her. Her contributionsto amateur mycology include a 15-page single-spaced itemization ofevery foray she has led or partici-pated in, every lecture and workshopshe has given, every researchproject she has conducted, and everyarticle and book she has written sofar, going back over more than 30years of active duty in the trenchesof amateur mycology.

This year’s winner of the NAMAAward for Contributions to AmateurMycology is Dr. Nancy Smith Weber.

◆

The NAMA Board of Trustees estab-lished the Harry and Elsie KnightonService Award to recognize andencourage people who have distin-guished themselves in service totheir local clubs. The Knightons’efforts began the North AmericanMycological Association in 1967.

The annual award consists of aframed certificate; publicity forwinner and club in The Mycophile;one-year membership in the organi-zation; and registration, housing,and foray fees for the next NAMAForay.

Each year’s recipient is selectedby the three most recent recipientsof the Award. Every NAMA-affiliated

mycological club may nominate onecandidate who it feels has per-formed meritorious service duringthe current or preceding year. TheKnighton Service Award has beengiven every year but one since 1989.

This year’s winner, David Work,received three first-place votes fromthe three judges who reviewed allthe nominations. David has invigo-rated his club the past several years.He is currently the membershipchairman of his club, the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association. Heis also the club’s webmaster, chiefphotographer, and chief chef. Hegives mushroom lectures and slideshows that audiences love. Hewrites articles about mushrooms andmushroom forays that people praisefor their wit and information. Andhe organizes mushroom walks andhas successfully brought wholefamilies into the woods and fields inhis area—a not inconsiderableachievement!

—Gary Lincoff

NAMA Forays in France,cont. from page 3

NAMA Awards for 2007 “Where’s my Mycophile?”I’ve been asked this quite abit over the past months.

I wish I could tell youthat the newsletter hasbeen away on vacation, butthe real, regrettable, news isthat because NAMA isexperiencing a financialcrunch, I was ordered tocease printing anynewsletters for a while.

Furthermore, as thisproblem is expected topersist into the future, itlikely will lead to fewerissues—and with fewerpages—as well as areduction in the number ofcolor pages (or issues withno color whatsoever).

I have received lots ofterrific commentary sincetaking on the newsletter, soI am deeply saddened tohave to reduce the qualityand quantity of TheMycophile.

Furthermore, despite anoutpouring of appreciationfor reviving McIlvainea—after 6 years’ absence—Iregret to inform the readersthat NAMA’s journal will goback to a single issue peryear and possibly little or nocolor. In any case, the nextissue is not to be publisheduntil summer 2008 at theearliest.

Again, I deeply regrethaving to be the bearer ofthis bad news, but wish allthe members the very bestin the New Year.

—Britt

E D I T O R I A L

North American Mycological Association336 Lenox AvenueOakland, CA 94610-4675

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Mushroom of the Month

This month’s mushroomis the rarely seenLeucopholiota decorosa,found at this year’sAnnual Foray. More aboutthis mushroom inside theissue . . .

Volume anuary ⁄ February Pipestem Foray …2015. 2. 7. · The NAMA Orson K. Miller Memorial Foray...

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Transcript of Volume anuary ⁄ February Pipestem Foray …2015. 2. 7. · The NAMA Orson K. Miller Memorial Foray...