Second SVIMS Spring Foray to Mechosin WP

by Foray
Tiny (about 1 cm) eyelash cup fungi (Genus Scutellinia) were found on the ends of some downed tree trunks.

SVIMS members made a second spring foray to Metchosin Wilderness Park on May 3, 2025. A group of 25 fungal fans, several of them on their first SVIMS foray, spent two hours chasing down examples of spring fungi.

The walk was organized by Mel Hesz, Caroline Pap, and Ann McCall. Kem Luther and David Walde were walk leaders. Foray coordinators Ian and Tina Brown did the check-in, check-out.

An early advent of the dry season this year has made fungi hard to find. Still, searchers were able to turn up about 25 different species. The full list, with pictures, can be viewed on iNaturalist. 

(Click on the accompanying pictures to see the associated iNaturalist observations.)

Oyster mushroom (Genus Pleurotus)s, though not as abundant this year as in 2024, were dotted along Red Alder logs.
Someone found a beautiful, orange-dusted cap of the Plectania melastoma cup fungus.

SVIMS spring 2025 foray, John Dean Park

by Foray
Cudonia circinans, common cudonia

SVIMS second foray of the spring season took place on Sunday, April 12, 2025, at John Dean CRD park. Since this venue was a regional park, the out-and-back walk was a look-but-don’t- collect venture. The walk was organized by Mel Hesz and Ann McCall. Kem Luther and Andy MacKinnon were walk leaders. Foray coordinators Ian and Tina Brown did the check-in, check-out (and managed not to lose anyone!).

Over the course of the morning, the 30 participants, several of them first-timers on a SVIMS foray, found 30 different species of fungi. The results were recorded in iNaturalist. The western Trillium was out, blooming and glorious.

Several of the finds are pictured in this post. (Click on the pictures to go to the corresponding iNaturalist pages). Almost as soon as the walk began, one of the foray participants spotted a clump of an ascomycete club, common cudonia. It responded when warmed with a puff of ascospores. 

Two different kinds of earth-tongues were found growing only a few metres from each other: the narrow and pointed black earth-tongue and the broad and densely hirsute heads of hairy earth-tongue. Tiny cups of Ciboria rufofusca speckled the surfaces of two different Doug-fir cones.  The largest “typical” mushroom of the day was the spring Nolanea holoconiota–it stood some 15 cm above the forest floor.

Ciboria rufofusca
Nolanea holoconiota, nippled brown pinkgill
Geoglossum umbratile, black earth-tongue
Trichoglossum hirsutum, hairy earth-tongue

SVIMS first spring 2025 foray, Mechosin Wilderness Park

by ForayUncategorized

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

SVIMS Cowichan Foray 2024

by ForaySVIMS events

Ann McCall and Andy MacKinnon congratuate themselves on finishing the labels.

The annual SVIMS weekend at Cowichan, held again at the Cowichan Lake Education Centre, took place on October 25-27. Overall, it was a rainy weekend, but the showers paused for the morning and afternoon forays on Saturday. The event this year was organized and coordinated by Elora Adamson.

As in other years, there was a dinner at a Cowichan restaurant on Friday night. Some eager SVIMS people did a mushroom flashlight walk. On Saturday, the weekend attendees were joined by many who came only for the Saturday forays, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Bryce Kendrick and Shannon Berch take a closer look at some of the mushrooms.

As the mushroom specimens began to arrive, a team at the display room under the direction of Shannon Berch labeled the mushrooms and arranged them on the tables by morphological groups. Bryce Kendrick brought his microscope and examined the spores and microscopic features of some of the specimens.

More than 150 different species were IDed. The list can be viewed on the svimsinatadmin site. As usual, the totals may change as people from around the world chime in with ID suggestions. 

Sunday morning was the usual sharing event, with people telling about their favourite finds.

The asci of Tolypocladium capitatum seen under Bryce’s microscope.

This year a special attempt was made to ugrade the citizen science component. We were able to record all of the finds on iNaturalist, combining multiple field pictures with IDs made and more photos taken in the display room. About ten SVIMS members took on the tasks of field recording. Approximately 20 of the specimens were dried and sent in for sequencing.

SVIMS Spring Foray May 2024 Royal Roads

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SVIMS members made one final spring outing, this time to Royal Roads. About 20 people, under the leadership of Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther, searched diligently for mushrooms for almost 90 minutes, but not many mushrooms revealed themselves. A recent spate of dry weather had ended the spring mushroom season early.

About a dozen species were recorded (iNaturalist records are here).  The mushroom in greatest abundance was the Panther Amanita, Amanita pantheroides. About 15 caps of it showed up. Some were small and old and had only a slight resemblance to the mushroom seen in field guide pictures. 

A big thanks to all the event organizers. Photos by Steven Strybosch.

An early coralroot, Corallorhiza mertensiana, had popped up. Andy uses it to explain mycoheterotrophy.
Amanita pantherinoides, with remnants of the universal veil still on the cap.
End-of-foray wrapup.

SVIMS Metchosin Wilderness Park Foray 2024

by Foray
Along the trail

SVIMS organized a 2024 spring foray at Metchosin Wilderness Park. About 30 people, including two foray managers (Steve Strybosch and Denise Furst) and two foray leaders (Kem Luther and David Walde), gathered at the Clapham Road entrance on Saturday, April 20, 2024, to spend two hour hunting down fungal fructifications. About a quarter of the group were on their first organized foray.

This was the third consective year for a foray at this season and place. Kem Luther, one of the leaders, handed out a list of about eighty mushrooms that had been identified in the earlier forays. By the end of the day, despite the dryer conditions, participants had found about 18 of the previously seen mushrooms. They also found about seven that were not on the list.

Results from the foray were recorded on iNaturalist with the help of Elora Adamson and Ann McCall, who were especially careful to take multiple photos from many angles and distances. As usual, the exact counts may change as experts from around the world weigh in on the iNaturalist posts. One of the most interesting specimens — probably a species of Inocybe that needs a new name — was vouchered.

Photos by Steven Strybosch.

Kem applies a chemical test (smell)) to the ID of a mushroom
Part of the largest clump of macrofungi seen on the foray--Mica Caps galore

Royal Roads foray with Paul Kroeger Spring 2024

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Pithya vulgaris, a tiny, tiny (1 mm) cup on the decaying needle of a true cedar (Cedrus). 

Paul Kroeger returned on February 6, 2024, for his annual SVIMS presentation. (See the post about his 2023 visit). This year he spoke about urban mushrooms.

The next day, February 7, Paul (helped by Andy and Kem) led a SVIMS foray at Royal Roads. Mushrooms had become rare finds since the last freeze, but after a couple of hours, and with the help of over 20 dedicated pairs of eyes, almost as many species of mushrooms turned up as last year–about 30. The finds have been posted on iNaturalist. 

The photos in this post are courtesy of Steve Strybosch, foray show runner.

Paul tells about his adventures with Auriscalpium vulgare.
Brave Josh shows the risks some people will take to find mushrooms in February!
Andy "No Off Switch" MacKinnon expostulates on the day's finds..
At the end of the foray, a few SVIMS people checked out a Royal Roads wood chip pile.