Come to our monthly meeting, either via Zoom or in person at St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria BC.
7:00 pm start, arrivals no earlier than 6:30 pm, ending 9:30 pm. Zoom link sent to members by email February 5.
Refreshments and in-person mushroom identification at St Luke’s Hall.
Paul Kroeger will speak about Urban Mushrooms. Paul has regaled us every February for some years. Learning and entertainment at its best.
There’s Fungus Among Us: Urban “weed” mushrooms and immigrant fungi
A look at some mushrooms growing in urban areas in landscaping and under street trees, fungi that often have come from elsewhere. Humans create habitats that are home to many common and some unusual fungi, adding diversity, beauty and interest to our city surroundings.
(About 110 slides)
I look forward to visiting all the SVIMers and looking for mushrooms in February.
Paul Kroeger has studied mushrooms for over forty five years and is a founding member of the Vancouver Mycological Society. He’s considered a leading expert in field identification of mushrooms of western Canada and has made a special study of “little brown mushrooms” including magic mushrooms and their relatives. He’s been involved in many projects and studies about diverse aspects of mushrooms; gaining knowledge about fungal biology and ecology, and biochemistry of toxic, hallucinogenic, medicinal and edible mushrooms. Years of experience create unique insights and understanding of fungal life-ways and interactions in temperate ecosystems.
Kroeger has worked at the University of British Columbia researching the biochemistry of medicinal mushrooms. He is a major contributor to the mycological herbarium collections in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC and has been a research associate of UBC Department of Botany for many years. He’s also contributed significant collections to DAOM Herbarium in Ottawa and DAVFP Herbarium in Victoria. He is a regular consultant for the British Columbia Drug and Poison Information Centre, and various other agencies concerned with mushroom poisonings and fungi in human and animal health.
Paul Kroeger has many times served as President of the Vancouver Mycological Society. He published with other mycologists in 2012 The Outer Spores: Mushrooms of Haida Gwaii a book based on a five-year study. He’s considered an entertaining and informative skilled speaker, who presents illustrated talks on subjects such as general mycology, basic mushroom identification, magic mushrooms, poisonous mushrooms, and more.
