SVIMS first spring 2025 foray, Mechosin Wilderness Park

SVIMS held its first club foray of 2025 in Metchosin Wilderness Park, a site of several previous spring outings. About 30 people gathered at the Clapham Road entrance on Saturday, March 30, 2025, to spend two hours hunting down fungal fructifications. About a quarter of the group were on their first organized foray.

This was one of SVIMS earliest spring outings. Still, by the end of the day, the group had found about 30 species of mushrooms, many of which would only have appeared in the last week. The observations were recorded on iNaturalist. Several of the specimens were vouchered for future sequencing.

Three of the more interesting and fun finds are listed in this post. (Click on the pictures to go to the iNaturalist records.)

Phylloporus arenicola, Western Gilled Bolete
Lachnum virgineum on Alder cone
Biscogniauxia marginata, Leopard Spot, on an Alder

Monthly Meeting April 3, 2025

7 pm – doors open
7:15-7:30 – meeting begins
3821 Cedar Hill X Rd, Victoria BC

Presentation by Karen Golinski
Collections Curator, Bryophytes, Lichens and Fungi

Fungal collections at the UBC Herbarium: Overview and recent developments

Karen Golinski is a bryologist and Collections Curator of the Bryophyte, Lichen and Fungi collections at the University of British Columbia Herbarium. She earned her PhD from the University of Victoria. Prior to beginning her current position at UBC in 2020, she worked on the US Herbarium bryophyte collection in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Karen has a strong interest in bryophyte biodiversity and conservation, and served on the Mosses and Lichens subcommittee of COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) for many years. Currently she is a member of the IUCN SSC Bryophytes Specialist group.

The UBC Herbarium in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum holds more than 91 thousand accessioned dried fungus and lichen specimens, serving as a key resource for fungal and lichenological research, university education and public outreach. The two collections, which emphasize B.C. specimens, are housed in 90 specially-designed cabinets in a unique, publicly-accessible space. Specimen cabinets are punctuated by stunning displays, including shadowboxes illustrating a species of Cortinarius named for Oluna Ceska, and an artful presentation of the Sherman Brough lichen-dyed wool collection.

UBC is part of a global effort to increase the visibility and usability of herbarium collections by making data and images available online through publicly-accessible data portals. We deeply appreciate the pioneering efforts of Dr. R.F. Scagel, who initiated the process of recording UBC specimen metadata in 1981. With the assistance of student and community volunteers, we have made substantial progress in processing a large backlog of specimens. Soon, with the help from mycological community members, we will start uniting specimen records with images from the Mushroom Observer and other sources to further facilitate biodiversity discovery and appreciation.

Dr. David Walde–2025 Mycophile article on Medicinal Mushrooms

The first issue of the new NAMA Mycophile magazine is out, and it has an informative article by one of SVIMS own, our ex-president, Dr. David Walde. The article is entitled “Medicinal Mushrooms: Where We Were, Where We Need to Be and How to Get There in 2025.” It begins on p. 45 of the online magazine. The article contains many useful links to websites discussing aspects of using mushrooms medicinally.

David (blue jacket) leading one of the SVIMS forays.

Monthly Meeting March 6, MycoConsortium

Look immediately below this notice for details about the Monthly Meeting and Presentation by Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon.

On the Membership Page, you will find a link to an upcoming presentation of the MycoConsortium about Mary Elizabeth Banning, an under appreciated mycologist of the mid-1800s. The presentation will be on March 13 at 7:30 pm.  You can also read there about the speaker, who is Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum and a professor of biology.  The membership page also has many videos of past meetings and past MycoConsortium presentations, and an introduction to DNA Sequencing.

Monthly Meeting March 6, MycoConsortium

Look immediately below this notice for details about the Monthly Meeting and Presentation by Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon.

On the Membership Page, you will find a link to an upcoming presentation of the MycoConsortium about Mary Elizabeth Banning, an under appreciated mycologist of the mid-1800s. The presentation will be on March 13 at 7:30 pm.  You can also read there about the speaker, who is Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum and a professor of biology.  The membership page also has many videos of past meetings and past MycoConsortium presentations, and an introduction to DNA Sequencing.