New Edition of Michael Beug’s Mushrooms of Cascadia

Michael Beug’s second edition of his illustrated key to mushrooms in our area, Mushrooms of Cascadia, is now available. Unlike his first edition, which we had trouble getting in Canada, this volume should show up in some of our bookstores. It can also be purchased online in Canadian dollars. 

It is a much more handsome volume than Michael’s first edition, with better typesetting and layout. He has also added two sample walkthroughs of his key at the front to show people how to use the book.

The coverage continues to be impressive. The index of scientific names at the back has about 1700 species names.  There are now 1100 photographs. All but 3 of the photos are by Michael himself or from the photographs of Harley and Kim Scates Barnhart, which Michael curates.

Michael has brought the scientific names up to date and has done a thorough rewrite of the text. This time he has included location information, so we can tell whether the mushrooms are found North America, Europe, Asia, and/or Africa.

                       — Kem Luther

SVIMS Monthly Meeting Thursday, September 5, 2024.

NEW General Meeting day of the week and time:

7pm arrivals; 7:15pm start. 

1st Thursday of the month, September to May except January. 

Guests welcome! Bring your mushrooms to be identified.  

St Luke’s Hall

3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 2M6

SVIMS The Next Generation

An opportunity for SVIMS members to hear from and be inspired by the mycological passions of fellow SVIMS members

And our first speakers of the new season are

Ann  McCall, Mohannah Singh, and Sarah Riley and Josh Wayborn

Ann McCall

“Sequencing Local Mushrooms”

Ann McCall is a mycology enthusiast with a particular interest in taxonomy and ITS barcoding. She joined SVIMS in 2022 to connect with a community of like-minded individuals while advancing her understanding of mycology.

With a background in engineering and a life-long passion for the sciences, Ann finds joy in deepening her knowledge of fungi while actively contributing to citizen science. She regularly participates in citizen science initiatives aimed at documenting all macrofungi in North America, and hopes to make DNA sequencing more accessible to SVIMS members.

When she’s not exploring forests in search of mushrooms, Ann can be found baking tasty treats or adventuring in her self-converted campervan.

Mohanna Singh

“The Process of Mushroom Photography”

Mo is a third year student studying forest biology at the University of Victoria. She has been apart of SVIMS since 2019, and has been doing nature photography since 2017. Her dad and older brother taught her to use a camera, and through lots of trial and error she has slowly improved over the years. She enjoys finding unique species of fungi all over Vancouver Island to photograph. Alongside photography, Mo enjoys reading, writing, and painting.

Sarah Riley and Josh Wayborn

“Ophiocordyceps”

We caught mushroom fever around 2015, having no formal mycology training, we began learning about and hunting mushrooms every chance we got. We moved to Vancouver Island in 2020, largely to chase a longer mushroom season than Manitoba has.
Josh was so fortunate as to come across the first of the Ophiocordyceps on a Western Carpenter ant in 2021 and we later found a large number of specimens at that site.
Treasure hunting for edibles in the forest has been a deep passion for both of us and we hope to have many more mushroom hunting years ahead of us.