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SVIMS
South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
SVIMS Lichen Foray Devonian May 2023
Juliet Pendray took SVIMS members on a second lichen learning walk at Devonian Park on May 6, 2023. The following Tuesday she delivered an informative presentation on lichens at the SVIMS month meeting.
On the walk, SVIMS members had the opportunity to check out lichens in a rare and endangered Garry oak ecosystem. Volunteers, organized by the late Moralea Milne, have been keeping the Devonian Park ecosystems pristine by removing invasives.
Juliet talked during the walk about lichen characteristics and habitat. Participants were inspired by Juliet’s obvious enthusiasm.
The group found lichens of many types and species. Among them were questionable rockfrog (Xanthoparmelia cumberlandii), many pixie lichens (Cladonia spp), conifer saucer lichen (Ochrolechia cf. oregonensis).
SVIMS helps with Salt Spring foray 2023
On Saturday, May 6, a group of mushroom enthusiasts from Salt Spring (their Facebook page) held a foray and invited several SVIMS people to join them.
A group of seven SVIMS people tried to board the morning Schwatz Bay ferry to Salt Spring–only to find out that the morning ferries had been cancelled. However, they heard that the ferries were running a free pilot boat service to Salt Spring from the neighbouring Government Wharf. Making their way to the small dock, the small group were all able to fit into the 9:00 am run of the pilot boat and arrive in time for the foray.
Top photo by Mel Hesz, bottom photo by David Walde.
The group of SVIMS people and Salt Springers surveyed a second-growth forest on Cranberry Road. Thanks in part to the recent rains, there were lots of mushrooms to see. About 40 species were logged on iNaturalist. Some of the more interesting finds are described below. (Click on the pictures to see the iNaturalist entries.)
Mycena aciculata, the orange bonnet. Thanks to Ian Gibson for cueing us into this one. Looks like an Atheniella, but it’s not. It’s still listed as Mycena, but DNA studies suggest that it doesn’t belong in the Mycena genus either.
Lachnum virgineum, the hairy fairy cup. Thanks to Ian Gibson for this great stacked closeup photo.
Presumably the mushroom is called “virgineum,” virgin, because it is white, and virgins wore white at weddings. Except the theory doesn’t hold water. The mushroom was first named “virgeneum” in the late 1700s, and brides didn’t start wearing white until Queen Victoria popularized the tradition in the 1830s.
Trametes gibbosa. As common as fleas on the mainland, but we don’t often see this large, lumpy, white polypore on the islands.
Bertia moriformis. This unusual and not often documented asco is known as “wood mulberry.” Tyson Ehlers helped us ID this one.
Pseudoplectania nigrella. Round spores (see spore pic on the iNaturalist observation) make this one an easy ID. Without microscopy, though, there would other alternatives to consider.
Cudonia circinans has the funny common name “redleg jellybelly.” Reviewing their records, SVIMS members established in 2022 that this was a spring as well as a fall mushroom. It’s truly a club–nothing under the head but bald tissue. This asco club, by the way, has crazy-long ascospores. See the Kuo writeup on this species for a picture of the ascospores.
Government House Spring Foray 2023
SVIMS members spent the morning of April 29, 2023, at the grounds of Government House. The 18 hectares of the provincial property include extensive natural woodlands (mossy balds, Garry oak meadows) on the south side.
Forayers were mostly on the lookout for fungi, but it was also the week of the iNaturalist 2023 City Nature Challenge Canada, so foray participants were snapping pictures of lots of other groups of organisms. To see the range of species groups, have a look at SVIMS member Elora Adamson’s iNaturalist observations for the morning.
The foray group was composed of both Government House personnel/volunteers and SVIMS members. SVIMS offers a big THANK YOU to Susan, Janet, Elsbeth, Valerie, Dave, Bryce, Rosemary and all the others who made the event possible. At the end of the foray participants were welcomed at the Government House cottage for refreshments and sharing of finds.
The fungal species for the day can be viewed on iNaturalist. In all, forayers found about 15 different species of fungi (as always, the iNaturalist count may change as other people weigh in on the observations). Not too many large mushrooms were identified–several days of sun had dried out what little had managed to come up. Still, one group managed to find the beautiful Bolbitus titubans (Sunny Side Up). One log on the property contained abundant corpses of last year’s Laetiporus gilbertsonii, the Hardwood Chicken of the Woods. (Several members made note of the place–perhaps planning to come back in August to see what the 2023 season might produce?) One dry morel turned up in the collection. Foray leaders identified some rusts often overlooked at other SVIMS events.
Photos courtesy of Steven Strybosch. Richard Winder also has some great photos on Facebook.
SVIMS spring foray at Royal Roads 2023
About 25 SVIMS members gathered at the back entrance to Royal Roads on Sunday, April 2, 2023, to see what mushrooms the spring weather had brought.
Club members found about 23 species. The list, with pictures, can be found on iNaturalist. (Usual warning–the names on the list may change as experts from around the world add their opinions).
Of special interest were two mycorrhizal mushrooms–an Inocybe and a Cortinarius. A Melanoleuca was vouchered for further study.
Thanks to Elora Adamson for helping with the recording. And Steven Strybosch for the group pictures on this page.
SVIMS Metchosin Wilderness Park Foray March 2023
Pictures in this post courtesy of Steve Strybosch.
The SVIMS foray for March took the club back to Metchosin Wilderness Park, which we last visited in (a much sunnier) April of 2022.
Even though the visit to the park was earlier and colder this year, SVIMSers found about as many mushroom species as last year. At the time of writing, we have 27 species for the day. (This may change, of course, as iNaturalist identifiers chime in on the IDs.) You can view the day’s discoveries on iNaturalist.
Special finds include a fragrant collybia, Rhodocollybia oregonensis, with its wonderful almond smell and long rooting base, coral spot, Nectria cinnabarina, looking like small red mulberries on the bark of a dead limb, jelly leaf, Phaeotremella, and bear lentinus, Lentinellus ursinus, hiding in the woodpecker holes of a large snag.
SVIMS Royal Roads Foray 2023
On February 15, 2023, SVIMS members had their annual spring foray at Royal Roads. Paul Kroeger, the speaker from the evening before, was the guest leader.
Results from the foray were recorded in iNaturalist. You can see the observations here.
About 30 species were identified at the foray. Lots of Nolanea, Galerina, Mycena, and Stereum, and conks.
Some fun finds: Hairy Pea Truffle (Endogone pisiformis — see microscope picture of the huge zygospores), Stereum ochraceoflavum and S. sanguinolentum, oodles of the beautiful Map Fungus, Coccomyces dentatus, on Oregon Grape leaves, and the Orange Disco, Aleurodiscus amorphus. We also found a beautiful slime mould, which Tyson Ehlers (our next SVIMS speaker) has identified as Insect-egg Slime, Leocarpus fragilis.
Photos courtesy of Steven Strybosch.
