South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
A new show opened on Saturday at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. It is titled “Symbiosis,” and it features several types of mushroom-related art.
Of special interest to SVIMS members:
(1) An interactive, full-wall simulation of a BC forest with its associated mycorrhizal network. This was put together by Colton Hash. A must-see (short video with this post).
(2) About a hundred ceramic, life-sized models of East Coast mushrooms. Incredibly accurate.
Svims members met for a log inoculation workshop on Saturday March 18, 2023. It was graciously hosted by Steve Fischer on a beautiful, almost official spring day in the lovely Blenkinsop Valley. There were morning and afternoon classes of eager SVIMS members. They started with a couple of piles of fresh-cut alder and cottonwood.
During the classes, attendees learned about log inoculation techniques. They asked questions about the different methods of inoculation, the spawn, types of substrate, and the best habitat for storing the logs. Everyone then went to work, inoculating oyster and shiitake spawn into their logs using the drill-and-fill method. Steve Fischer demonstrated different inoculation techniques, including the curve-cut method and the totems-sealed-with-clay method.
Participants hope to see some fruitification of their efforts next spring or fall! Thanks to all who helped out procuring logs, equipment and assistance.
In this talk: Tyson will provide an overview of the biology of myxomycetes, their morphology, life history, and habitats. He will discuss collection and storage techniques and cover the major taxonomic groups with photographs and tips for identification.
A zoom link has been sent (March 13) to SVIMS members by e-mail. There is no in-person meeting. Starting time for the zoom meeting is 6:45 pm.
Tyson Ehlers is a forest ecologist and biologist from the Slocan Valley, BC. His taxonomic interests are varied and tend toward the overlooked and understudied, which naturally led him to devote much of his time to studying fungi. He is an avid mushroom collector and photographer and strives to document the diversity of macrofungi in BC and has worked on numerous mycological research projects.
Along with his scientific interests, Tyson guides mushroom forays, advocates for the conservation of wild mushroom habitat, and has coauthored a book, Mushrooms to Look for in the Kootenays.
Like many who spend their time looking for fungi, slime moulds inevitably caught his attention. But there wasn’t much information available to learn more about these strange creatures and they remained an enigmatic curiosity. Somehow this passing interest became an obsession and for the past several years Tyson has devoted his time to the slime. He has been collecting and learning about slime moulds and is collaborating with other BC myxo-enthusiasts to produce a baseline inventory and guidebook for the slime moulds of BC.
Background. Slime moulds are not fungi, but they have traditionally been studied by mycologists because they look similar and occupy many of the same habitats. Commonly referred to as plasmodial slime moulds, myxomycetes are amoeboid eukaryotes which produce macroscopic fruiting bodies with a relatively complex structure. They are unicellular organisms which have demonstrated remarkable abilities, such as solving mazes, and “learning” in the absence of a nervous system. Slime moulds have little economic value, they are not an important source of food or medicine, and they are challenging to find and hard to identify. But they are exquisite life forms, and perhaps that is their main attraction.
Myxomycetologists are few and far between. There are only a handful in Canada and here in BC there are only three of us giving myxomycetes serious attention. There are few regional guides to aid in identification, and it has been said that knowledge of myxomycetes is equivalent to that of fungi 30 years ago. But the myxo-revolution is spreading, aided by advances in extreme macrophotography that is revealing the elegant beauty of these extraordinary creatures. Highly skilled professional photographers are publishing award-winning photographs in a variety of media, winning over legions of new fans.
Internet forums, like the Slime Mould Identification and Appreciation Facebook group and iNaturalist provide a venue for information sharing. And for the first time ever, slime moulds are included in the General Status of Species in Canada in the recent Wild Species 2020 report.
With just over 1000 species described worldwide, it would seem a simple task to inventory myxomycetes nation-wide. But most of
them are tiny and not easy to find or identify and few individuals have historically contributed to building an inventory. In BC alone, there were fewer than 100 species to be found in provincial herbaria prior to our work. In the past few years, we have now documented over 200 species in BC, many of which are new records for Canada, some new to North America, and at least one new undescribed species.
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.
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.
Hello Members,
Mark it on your calendar. Saturday, March 11, 2023 5:00 – 8:00 pm.
The Chinese Mushroom Dinner is a long standing traditional event which has been in hiatus during Covid. But the event is back, organized by Adolf Ceska. Thank you Adolf.
A booking link was sent to SVIMS members by email February 2.
Paul Kroeger will be returning with his wit and wisdom. This time he will be discussing mushroom poisonings in BC. See poster below.
His presentation will be in three locations at the same time on February 14: live, on Zoom, and on Facebook. The live meeting will be at St. Luke Anglican Church, 3821 Cedar Hill Cross Rd. A Zoom link will be emailed to members about 48 hours before the event
Paul’s presentation will be preceded by our AGM meeting for members only, starting shortly after 6:45 pm.
The next day on Wednesday, February 15, he will help lead a local foray for members to a location yet to be announced. Sign-up will be with Everbright – members should already have received a link by email on January 22.
