SVIMS
South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
April/June 2022 NAMA Mycophile available
SVIMS is a member of The North American Mycological Association (NAMA), the collective that unites the mycological societies on this continent. Four to six times a year NAMA publishes its newsletter, the Mycophile, and makes it available to members of all supporting clubs. The April-June issue is available. To read it, click or tap on the picture of the cover.
Photographing Fungi
Alan Franck has some good suggestions for what should be photographed if you want to have help with mushroom identification. Posted on the FUNDIS blog.
Funky Fungi
Children’s educator and songwriter Rosie Emery recently released a song, Funky Fungi. She was inspired by some recent books on mycorrhizal fungi.
May 2022 SVIMS outing to Metchosin Wilderness Park
The last of the SVIMS 2022 spring mushroom forays took place on May 28. SVIMS members assembled at the Clapham Road entrance to Metchosin Wilderness Park (see picture below) and spent two hours in a misty rain looking for fungal fructifications. The searchers were successful–the group found about three dozen different species, the highest daily total of the four spring forays.
The day’s inventory can be viewed on iNaturalist. The picture above is the iNaturalist mapping of the species sightings.
The biggest surprise was coming across several mushrooms more commonly associated with late summer and autumn, such as a Two-Coloured Laccaria (Laccaria bicolor) , an Orange Milk Cap (Lactarius cf luculentus), a young Hebeloma (perhaps Hebeloma mesophaeum), and what was interpreted to be a Clitocybe gibba.
Several of the species found on this foray were the same ones found the week before at the Blinkhorn Lake survey. The Spring Scalecap (Kuehneromyces lignicola) and the Common Cudonia (Cudonia circinans), however, were new and fun finds.
Leaders for this foray were Shannon Berch, Andy MacKinnon, and Bryce Kendrick. Kem Luther (better known, when he is with Andy, as “the adult in the room”) did the recording.
2022 SVIMS Blinkhorn Survey
Two dozen members of SVIMS met on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at Metchosin’s Blinkhorn Lake Park to search for spring fungi.
The searchers found 30 species, breaking the spring 2022 record (April 23) for the number of mushroom species found in a foray. The observations can be viewed on iNaturalist.
Steve Strybosch and Melanie Hesz coordinated the registration and sign-in. Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon came along to help with identification. Elora Adamson assisted with the species photography and recording.
Several of the finds were spring cups:
(1) The asco Eyelash Cup, Scutellenia scutellata, is not exactly rare but always a thrill to find.
(2) Another cup, the Brown Bowl Fungus, Tarzetta catinus, is more of a rare find. This was the first Metchosin sighting of this asco.
(3) The Hairy Fairy Cup, Lachnum virgineum, showed up on some wood impregnated with blue Chlorociboria mycelium.
In addition, forayers also found Alpova concolor and Inocybe stellatospora. The inocybe has not been reported from BC on iNaturalist before, but there are several observations on Mushroom Observer, including ones by Adolf and Oluna and by Fred Rhoades (a Washington friend of SVIMS). Whether these two new finds will hold up depends on what identifiers say about them in coming weeks.
SVIMS Spring Foray in Metchosin 2022
On Saturday, April 23, SVIMS had its second local mushroom foray. Twenty-six people arrived at 10:00 pm at Metchosin Wilderness Park, Clapham Road entrance, to spend two hours in the park. Steve Strybosch and David Walde coordinated the registration and sign-in. Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon came along to help with identification. Elora Adamson helped with the species photography and recording.
Twenty-seven mushrooms were found and IDed. You can see the list and pictures on iNaturalist. (The exact IDs of mushrooms posted on group sites such as Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist may change after posting as experts weigh in).
One of the highlights of the foray was finding exemplars of the two common spring foraging mushrooms, an oyster mushroom and a morel. (This may be the first morel ever documented in Metchosin Wilderness Park.) The foray group also found a huge stand of another edible, mica cap.
More to come on: a Zoom talk on spring mushrooms happens on Thursday, April 28, 7 pm (see a previous post for details about the talk).
Some event photos from Steve Strybosch. Click to enlarge.