Monthly Meeting Monday October 9, 2023

The October Monthly Meeting and Presentation can be attended via Zoom or in person at St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd,  Victoria BC.

Note that this is a Monday, not the usual Tuesday time.

6:45 pm promptly, ending 9:30 pm.  Zoom link will be sent to members by email. 

Our speaker is Alison Pouliot, on tour through Pacific Northwest from Australia, She will speak in person about her new book and experiences as an Australian ecologist, author and professional photographer. The title of the presentation is Curry Brain and Jelly Punk. More details after the photos.

Curry Punk & Jelly Brain 

 Alison will talk about the Conservation & Aesthetics of Fungi. The earth’s rapidly changing climate and environmental issues have come into sharp focus through the demise of charismatic megafauna and the ‘biodiversity crisis’.  

But what about stinkhorns and slime moulds?  How do fungi and their kin get our attention when they are not only overshadowed by more ‘popular’ organisms, but are rarely included in our ideas about ‘nature’ or ‘biodiversity’? 

Over the last 25 years Alison has divided her time between hemispheres, working both with fungi and their followers. She has been actively involved in fungal conservation and land restoration programs.  In this talk Alison will explore how fungi are perceived across hemispheres in conservation contexts and which fungal flagships best capture the public imagination. Alison will also some stories from the writing of her recent book, Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms, in which she interacted with fungi and their followers across a dozen countries. 

DR ALISON POULIOT is an ecologist, author and professional environmental photographer with a focus on fungi. Her work spans both northern and southern hemispheres ensuring two autumns and a double dose of fungi each year. Alison is actively involved in teaching, research and conservation, and has conducted over 800 fungus forays across many countries. Alison is author of The Allure of Fungi, Wild Mushrooming, and Meeting with Remarkable Mushrooms. www.alisonpouliot.com

Foray Sunday October 8, 2023

On Sunday, October 8, 2023, SVIMS members and guest Alison Pouliot gathered at the Heatherbell entrance to Royal Roads University to see if mushrooms were poppin’. For the most part, they weren’t. Searchers still managed to turn up more than 30 species of fungi.

The results of the foray are posted on iNaturalist. You can view them here. As always, iNaturalist counts may change as other people weigh in on the observations.

 

One dead log produced a number of species. Alison photographs while Elora and Mel record. Photo by Steve Strybosch.
An old, infected Pycnoporus fulgens. Photo by Steve Strybosch.
SVIMS members gather at the end of the foray to discuss finds.

Monthly Meeting by Zoom Tues. September 12, 2023

Shannon Adams is our speaker for the evening. Her topic:

Cortinarius 101 – Identifying the Genus, Conservation & Edibility.

More information is below her photo.

This is a zoom-only meeting – members should have received a link from our SVIMS President.  

6:45 pm to socialize. 7 pm to start.

Do you love learning about mushrooms but think ‘Cortinarius’ is too hard? It doesn’t have to be that way! Shannon will help you recognize distinctive features of Cortinarius and how to differentiate them from common ‘lookalikes’, and then take you on a rich visual tour to appreciate species diversity. During the talk you will get to know some of our most notable Cortinarius ‘celebrities’ and have new resources for ID when you find these diverse and beautiful species.

Shannon Adams is a User Researcher in the tech industry who has a passion for the genus Cortinarius. When she emigrated from Australia 20+ years ago she was struck by the diversity and beauty of Cortinarius species she saw in the Washington Cascades, and started trying (and failing) to identify them. For the past 6 years, she has been collecting and documenting Cortinarius species and has over 1,200 collections in her personal herbarium.

In 2021 she led the publication of a new Cortinarius species – Cortinarius rufosanguineus – and has recently worked with other Cort experts to describe three additional species she will introduce to us. Shannon is here to spread her love of the Cortinariaceae and to give you resources to help you get to know BC species.  

Links: https://nacorts.com and see also Cortinarius on iNaturalist.