Britt Bunyard at Nov 9 2024 SVIMS Meeting

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St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd Victoria  6pm start 

Title: A Resilient Planet Needs Fungi NOW

Overview: Fungi are weird, fungi are cool, and fungi are beautiful. But how much do we really know about them? For starters, they do much more than just rot things. They control pretty much all life on our planet and are everywhere. Britt Bunyard’s lecture will present fascinating stories and beautiful photos of amazing fungi featured in his latest book. Discover the crazy, wonderful life that goes on all around us, mostly hidden in plain sight. For general audiences, no knowledge of mycology is required, and all levels of mycological questions are encouraged for the Q&A. This lecture is based on features from Bunyard’s new book, The Lives of Fungi, A Natural History of Our Planet’s

Britt Bunyard, PhD, is the founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the mycology journal Fungi, in print since 2008. Britt is a former university professor and has published over 100 academic and popular science papers. He has served as an editor for mycological and entomological research journals, and mushroom guide books.

A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has given more than 250 invited lectures to academic and popular audiences across North America and beyond. He has been featured on the BBC World Service’s Newshour, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s NOVA and Wisconsin Foodie television programs; and interviewed or quoted in Discover magazine, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Vox, Vogue, Forbes, Saveur, Eating Well, Hobby Farm, Women’s World, and other magazines and newspapers.

Britt has collected fungi and lectured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Annually, he leads mycological expeditions throughout the world. One such expedition, was the subject of a documentary film “Look Down Not Up” (2022), produced by documentary filmmakers Alok Siddhi Tuladhar and Dusty Shiva Panthi of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Britt has authored several books, including The Little Book of Fungi (2024; Princeton University Press), Lives of the Fungi (2022; Princeton University Press), The Beginner’s Guide to Mushrooms (2021; Quarry Books), Amanitas of North America (2020; The Fungi Press), and Mushrooms and Macrofungi of Ohio and Midwestern States (2012; The Ohio State University Press).

Britt has served as Executive Director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival since 2014. In 2021 he was awarded the Gary Lincoff Award “For Contributions to Amateur Mycology,” by the North American Mycological Association—NAMA’s most prestigious honor for American mycologists.

Richard Winder at Nov 7 2024 SVIMS Meeting

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This is one of the two SVIMS Presentations in November: the other will be on Saturday Nov 9 with Britt Bunyard, editor of Fungi Magazine. And before those, the Mushroom Show Oct 20 and the Cowichan Foray Oct 25-27. And don’t forget the SVIMS 2025 Calendar.

On Thursday November 7, Richard Winder will talk with us about Mushrooms for All Seasons, his new 4 book series. Look below his photo for the exciting details: not only recipes, but culinary history, biology, and nutrition. He has been cooking up these books for several years and they will finally be available in 2024.

In person and zoom 
St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd Victoria 
7pm doors open, 7:15 start, end by 9:30 pm 
Richard Winder, Mushrooms for All Seasons

Richard will discuss the highlights of his four book series, titled “Mushrooms for All Seasons.”  Instead of a field guide or a plain recipe book, Richard has written a series of books that take an in-depth look at the most popular edible mushrooms available in B.C. (and elsewhere). Grouped into the four seasons they are available, mushroom chapters in book take a deep dive into relevant biological, ecological, historical, and nutritional information. As well, each mushroom chapter presents  a savory and enjoyable collection of classical and modern recipes. Highlights Richard will discuss at the talk include the way morels were prepared in the Roman Empire, the traditional way that the Mixtec people of Mexico cook lobster mushrooms, the fascinating ways wealthy people of Medieval Europe liked to consume truffles (as aphrodisiacs), and how fish sauce from Asia led to the evolution of mushroom ketchup and eventually the tomato condiment we all know today.  Whether your mushrooms are wild-harvested or purchased at the grocery store, every season brings a new set of mushrooms to cook and enjoy!

Mary Berbee at Oct 3 2024 SVIMS meeting

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October 3rd, 2024, Monthly Membership Meeting

Mary Berbee, professor at UBC, will speak on:

“Exploring Fungal Diversity and Biology: UBC Student Projects on Sooty Moulds, Bird’s Nests, and Pluteus Mushrooms”

— 7pm Doors Open

— 7:15pm Zoom begins

In person:  3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd, Victoria, BC V8P 2M6

Bring your mushrooms to be identified!

(“Mushrooms of Cascadia” by Siegel and Schwarz will most likely be available to purchase. Very limited amount available! Final cost is still being calculated into CAD, but the USD cost is 40$US + a small fee for processing.)

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SVIMS Monthly Meeting Thursday, September 5, 2024.

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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.

Bryophilous fungi of BC–Randall Mindell–May 14

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Mniaecia jungermanniae, a tiny inoperculate ascomycete growing on leafy liverworts of the order Jungermanniales. Photo by Johannes Merz.

SVIMS Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

Place: St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd, Victoria

Live Meeting with Zoom option. Zoom Link will be emailed to SVIMS members a few days before meeting.

Starts at 7 pm – please don’t arrive before 6:30. Bring mushrooms for ID and display.

Presenter: Randal Mindell

Talk Title “Bryophilous fungi of Coastal British Columbia“

Mosses, liverworts and hornworts are particularly diverse in British Columbia, home to roughly 80% of bryophyte species known to occur in Canada. Despite the abundance of these groups, little is known about the diversity and ecology of the fungi that make their home in and on them. This talk will explore the nature, antiquity, ubiquity and relevance of the relationship between fungi and bryophytes while presenting a mix of historical data and recent observations from the region.

Dr. Randal Mindell is a Comox Valley-based cryptogamic botanist with a particular interest in liverworts and crustose lichens. He completed his B. Sc. at UBC and Ph.D. at the University of Alberta.

Monthly Meeting April 9 Marty Kranabetter (SVIMS Members Only)

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SVIMS Monthly Meeting April 9, 2024 at

St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd, Victoria, 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Live Meeting with Zoom option
Start at 7 pm – please don’t arrive before 6:30.
Zoom Link will be emailed to SVIMS members a few days before meeting.

Our presenter will be Marty Kranabetter. Below his photo, see more about his talk and his background. His talk will be

Recent findings on the ecology of ectomycorrhizal  fungi across coastal British Columbia

Marty Kranabetter photo

 Forests along coastal British Columbia face a wide range in growing conditions, from very poor soils (low in nitrogen or phosphorus availability) to highly productive sites. The capacity of trees to thrive in these contrasting ecosystems is dependent upon their symbiotic fungi (‘ectomycorrhiza’). In this presentation I will review recent studies that demonstrate how communities of ectomycorrhizal fungi are adapted to our local soils. In addition, I will summarize ongoing studies into the diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi, and how forest management practices can help retain the impressive fungal biodiversity of our coastal landscapes.  

Marty Kranabetter is the West Coast regional soil scientist with the BC Ministry of Forests and is located in Victoria. Marty’s areas of interest are soil ecology (especially ectomycorrhizal fungi), biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and forest nutrition/productivity. Marty is a member of the provincial soil science group undertaking North American-wide studies on compaction and site organic matter removal (the Long-term Soil Productivity Study).  Most recently he has also been examining nitrogen and phosphorus deficiencies inherent to coastal forests and their interactions on conifer nutrition and forest productivity. 

Monthly Meeting March 12 Lorena Polovina (SVIMS Members Only)

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Mycological Futures: Exploring Biofabrication in Architectural Applications


SVIMS monthly meeting  Tuesday, 12 March, 2024
St Luke’s Hall, 3821 Cedar Hill X Rd Victoria 6:30pm – 9:30pm. In person and on Zoom. 7:00 pm start, arrivals no earlier than 6:30 pm, ending 9:30 pm.  Zoom link was sent to members by email on March 8.
– refreshments
– bring mushrooms for Show and Tell
Our speaker will be Lorena Polovina –

Mycological Futures: Exploring Biofabrication in Architectural Applications

Lorena Polovina is an interdisciplinary architecture student with a civil engineering background and professional experience in building science and structural design. She is a leader in the embodied carbon space and biogenic material research. She is currently a researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Biogenic Architecture Lab where she researches mycelium biocomposites and their application as thermal insulators to replace toxic materials such as polystyrene. She was also a UBC Sustainability Scholar where she authored the “Rebuilding Better Guide” to inform local government leaders and policymakers on climate change mitigation and adaptation through a low carbon resiliency lens.