BULLETIN OF THE PUGET SOUND MYCOLOGICALSOCIETY
Number 328, January 1997
Electronic Edition is published monthly, September through Juneby the
Puget Sound Mycological Society
Center for Urban Horticulture, Box 354115
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
(206) 522-6031
Agnes A. Sieger, Editor
Dick Sieger, HTML Editor
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, January 14, 1997, at 7:30 PM in the Center for UrbanHorticulture, 3501 N.E. 41st Street, Seattle
Our January meeting features Jim Berlstein, who will present atalk/slide show entitled “Mushrooms You Should Know: Tales ofBeauty and Power From the Fungal Files.” Although he has aB.S. degree in biology from Yale University and an M.S. degree inaquaculture from University of Washington, Jim found that full-timeemployment interfered with the mushroom season to such a greatextent that it could not be tolerated. He currently makes a livingtutoring high school students in math and science, as well as inSAT preparation. A conservative mushroom eater, Jim prefers to letyou try the questionable species and tell him about your symptoms,rather than to actually try them himself. Jim has beenphotographing mushrooms for many years and has assembled a largecollection of slides. Come and see the glory of the PacificNorthwest captured in Jim’s slides!
Would members with last names beginning with the lettersL–P (and any beginning with prior letters who have not alreadycontributed this fall) please bring a plate of snacks to be enjoyedafter the presentation?
CALENDAR
Jan. 14 Membership meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH
Jan. 20 Board meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH
Jan. 24 Spore Prints deadline
Feb. 5–9 Northwest Flower and Garden Show
Feb. 11 Membership meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH
Mar. 14 PSMS Banquet and Annual Meeting.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Marshall Palmer
Last month we enjoyed a very well-attended “cookiebash” with some impressive slides shared by memberphotographers. Sincere thanks are in order for members who cameearly to decorate and prepare tables—some arriving as early as5:30. All of you who were able to attend deserve to pat yourselveson the back for bringing delicious treats to share. Much caloricstorage was accomplished to prepare for the cold winter tocome.
A dedicated volunteer, Sheila Parr, is returning to school thisquarter after contributing many hours of time and energy as BookSales Chair. Thank you, Sheila. In her place we need a new BookChair, whom Sheila has thoughtfully agreed to mentor. While booksare offered to members at a 10% discount, the sales are animportant source of revenue for our organization. If you arewilling to consider this position and would like furtherinformation, please call me or Sheila.
Thanks are also due for those who helped design, construct, andinstall new shelves in our office at CUH: Cindy Hoover, RobertEnglish, Brandon Matheny, and especially Russ and Roger Kurtz, whopurchased the materials, cut and varnished the components, andassembled the structure. Thanks to you all!
Wayne and Patrice Elston have served for the past 2 years asField Trip Chairs and are in need of a break. They have worked tostreamline the organization of field trips, which will benefit thenew chair(s). Please consider whether you can help in field tripplanning and administration. For more information about this, callme.
Our annual Survivors’ Banquet is scheduled for March 14,1997, at Edmonds Community College. Walter Bronowitz is theCulinary Arts Chair at Edmonds, and those of you who attended lastyear’s banquet know what a great repast he and his studentscan present. Registration information will be in the FebruarySpore Prints.
At the January meeting announcements will be made about theNorthwest Flower and Garden Show in early February. PSMS will havean information booth there with some mushrooms displayed. Pleaselook for the volunteer sign-up list at the membership meeting tofind a convenient slot in which to help. Volunteers receive freeadmission to the show, which means that you can stroll through theincredible exhibits on the same day you volunteer.
See you in January!
BOARD NEWS Agnes Sieger
November: Charles Pregaldin is the new Exhibit Chair.Book Sales Chair Sheila Parr is returning to school would like toretire in January 1997; she has all of the Book Sales detailsavailable on her computer and will be available to mentor the newchair or co-chairs. Marshall Palmer, Brandon Matheny, and DanPregaldin will form a committee to analyze our nonprofit status.PSMS cleared approximately $4800 on the annual exhibit and $1000 onthe Quinault Foray. Irwin Kleinman, Dan Pregaldin, MarsiDiGiovanni, and Russ Kurtz will form a committee to advise onsetting aside money for renewal of our lease with CUH in 2014. Russhas almost finished the shelves for the office. The BellevueAthletic Club, Edmonds Community College, and the Lake City ElksClub were suggested for the PSMS banquet in March.
December: The 1997 annual exhibit will be October 18 and19. Lynn Elwell joined Mary Lynch and Irwin Kleinman on theNominating Committee. The 1997 banquet will be at Edmonds CommunityCollege. Marshall Palmer is in charge of the PSMS roster.Suggestions were entertained on how best to invest in a buildingfund so we can renew our lease at CUH. Russ Kurtz will arrangeanother Lake Quinault Foray for the first or second weekend inNovember. Joanne Young will contact potential sales representativesfor the PSMS cards made from the 1984 exhibit poster.
MEET BRANDON MATHENY Inga Wilcox
Brandon, our current Education Chair and a volunteer identifier,is a recent member, having joined PSMS in February 1995. A nativeof Oklahoma, he describes himself as “a city kid who loves theoutdoors and likes to sleep in a tent.”
He arrived in Seattle in 1991, bringing with him his guitar,CDs, books, and $300, and knocked at his brother’s door.Hiking along the coast in the La Push area, Brandon noticed manymushrooms and immediately wanted to know what they were. Edibilitydid not enter into the picture at this point. The first book hechecked out of the public library was David Aurora’sMushrooms Demystified. Other field guides followed, andBrandon soon was able to identify his finds. Indeed he commenced amushroom survey of his own in a wetland area on the SammamishPlateau. He chose a site with alders, Doug firs, some cottonwood,hemlock, salal, salmonberries, and other shrubs and documented hisfindings in a spreadsheet and photographs. He plans to continue tomonitor that site to find out the effects of development. He saysthat the resources in the PSMS library were of great help.
Having joined the society, he took all the classes being offeredand went on as many field trips as possible. His advice tonewcomers is “go on field trips.” He states that afterjoining his interest in fungi simply exploded. He acknowledges hisindebtedness to Brian Luther, Larry Baxter, Dick Sieger, SaraClark, and Cole-man Leuthy for their generosity in giving time andsharing their enthusiasm. “I would not know what I know todaywithout them.”
There is a rock band in town called “What Goes On,”and our Education Chair plays guitar and bass in it. Brandon hasplayed music for a long time. He makes up songs and finds music tobe a means of expressing himself.
We are delighted to have him as our Education Chair. Keep up thegood work, Brandon, and let us know when the band plays again.
MUSHROOM HARVESTERS GET A TASTE OF SCIENCE Ron Post
An unusual event last November in Shelton, Washington,“Home of the Evergreen Forest,” made it apparent thatscience is a living thing, if not a living, for the people of thissmall timber community at the southeastern edge of the OlympicNational Forest. Nearly 150 people came to listen to scientists whocooperated on a 3-year study funded by the U.S. Man and theBiosphere Program. The purpose of U.S. MAB is to promote, throughresearch, “harmonious relationships between people and theirenvironment.” The study looked at how chanterelle mushrooms(Cantharellus cibarius and C. subalbidus) grow andmake their way out of the Olympic Peninsula and what managerialstrategies could help manage and sustain the harvest over the longterm.
The day-long workshop was held next to the town’s airport,a way station every autumn for chanterelles and other “specialforest products” worth a few million dollars, given a goodharvest year and reasonable market prices for the products: floralgreens such as fir boughs, moss, and cones, and, of course, wildmushrooms. According to mushroom buyers who attended the workshop,local C. cibarius, the yellow chanterelle, was abundant in1996, though prices were somewhat depressed on the internationalmarket. It was also a good year for C. subalbidus, themeatier and paler white chanterelle.
Having had experience with many groups involved in wild mushroomharvesting, the MAB scientists brought a facilitator for theafternoon round table discussion on regulation of the mushroomharvest. The participants included mushroom buyers, privatetimberland owners, national forest rangers and resource managers,state land stewards and many others. David Arora, who has traveledthe world recording his observations of foragers, observed thecolloquy for some time before remarking, “A lot of this(issuing permits) is actually an attempt at taxation.” Otherscalled the state’s effort to regulate harvesting “apolice-type action” and “harassment.” According toArora, “The regulations seem to be targeted toward people whoare very poor and trying to get by. None of them seem pointedtoward (assuring) sustainability.”
Joe Simpson, a panel member and study participant whose Simp-sonTimber Co. issues leases to pickers on about 60,000 acres ofwoodlands, said he has “been through this about 16 times”and predicted “there is going to be limited access down theroad” on both private and public lands owing to increasingcompetition for special forest products and wild plants. WashingtonState has attempted to gather information and issue permits for itswild mushroom harvest since 1989, when a state law directed theagriculture department to require mushroom buyers and dealers tobuy permits and report harvest amounts. A more recent state lawplaces mushrooms into the category of special forest products butagain gives no money to local enforcement agencies to enforcepermit requirements.
Some speakers demanded the federal government adopt a consistentpolicy toward regulation; up to now, each national forest—even separate ranger districts—could require differenttypes of permits for pickers. Anyway, only half the state’sforest land is federally owned, and checkerboard patterns ofalternating private and public land ownership often make itdifficult to tell whose regulation applies.
Other speakers made the point that taxation will be difficultowing to the nature of the product, which is highly perishable, andthe annual harvest, which is highly unpredictable, usually apart-time occupation, and not always lucrative.
There was a panel on sustainability, too, and various handouts,including reprints of local news stories about racial tensions inShelton and a pile of fliers telling pickers and buyers, indifferent languages, about state farm labor laws. There was alsoplenty of French bread, heaps of hot pasta, and a marinara saucemade with wild mushrooms.
Among the fungus heads in attendance were Paul Stamets, a localauthor and well-known mushroom cultivation expert, Arora, alecturer and author of Mushrooms Demystified, and RandyMolina, whose U.S. Forest Service mycology lab in Oregoncoordinated the biological component of the MAB study.
Leon Liegel, the U.S. Forest Service scientist who organized the3-year study with a shoestring budget, told the audience that partof MAB’s mission was to share information with the public topromote understanding of environmental issues. “The media haveportrayed the situation as ‘one cannot have both jobs and [ahealthy] environment,’ ” Liegel said.
Tom Love, a Linfield College anthropology professor who directeda socioeconomic and ethnographic study of harvesters, heldeveryone’s attention with a presentation that focused on thepeople doing the business. But, “a lot of people are concernedabout opening up and talking freely, given the uncertainty aboutregulations that might come back at them,” he said.
David Pilz, a member of Molina’s research group at thePacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis, spoke about thedifficulty of coming up with enough land and enough protectedharvesting sites to obtain a random sample for estimating theforest’s chanterelle productivity. Also, there was thechallenge of training and organizing dozens of volunteers who wouldbe mostly on their own, traveling through inclement weather aroundthe peninsula to gather, dry, and weigh a few hundred grams ofmushrooms. But Pilz said the study will help other scientistssurvey and manage important harvesting areas, which areincreasingly popular for hordes of commercial mushroom pickers aswell as a growing number of pot hunters.
FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW Colleen Compton
For the past few years, PSMS has held a mycology exhibit at theNorthwest Flower and Garden Show. This year’s show will beheld on February 5–9, 1997, at the Seattle Convention andTrade Center. The PSMS exhibit will be constructed on Tuesday,February 4. PSMS members who would like to set up the booth orstaff it during the show may sign up at the January meeting or callColleen Compton (206) 367-2694 after January 16. Those whoparticipate are entitled to view the Flower and Garden Show at nocost.
NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICERS ARE STILL OPEN
We are still taking nominations for Vice President, Secretary,and board members (2-year terms). Speak up at the January meeting(you must have the nominee’s permission) or contact any memberof the Nominating Committee (Mary Lynch, Irwin Kleinman, and LynnElwell). Please be sure to pay your dues on time, for only currentmembers can cast votes for officers next February.
ARE YOU A MYCOHOLIC? Scott Stoleson, PotomacSporophore, Myco. Assoc. of Washington, D.C.
Most of our members are “social mushroomers”—theycome to several forays each year to pick edibles and increase theirknowledge, but mainly just to get out into the woods on summer andfall days and to socialize. But there are some among us to whommushrooms are no longer just a casual interest or an enjoyablewarm-weather hobby, but rather a compulsion, an obsession. Suchpeople will be out picking on sweltering August days and infreezing December weather. During peak season, they will bemushrooming not just on scheduled club outings but two, three, ormore times a week. These people are mycoholics!
Mycoholism is a serious problem that is spreading throughout oursociety. The problem isn’t confined to the poor andunderprivileged or to recent immigrants from Eastern Europe.Myco-holics come from all walks of life: lawyers, productionmanagers, doctors, antique dealers, garden-clubbers, physiologists,chemists, students, farmers, housewives—anyone can be amycoholic.
There are a few telltale clues that differentiate a mycoholicfrom the casual collector. For example, their cars have a 6-monthsupply of waxed paper bags in the back seat and a dried upTricholoma in the ashtray. They wear little or no jewelryexcept a hand lens around the neck. Either their collecting basketsare unusually large or worn on their backs to leave both hands freefor picking, or they have two baskets—one for edibles, one forother species. While these traits do not automatically condemnsomeone as a mycoholic, they are among the warning signs to watchfor. Are you a mycoholic? Not sure? Then you’d better reviewsome of the following warning signs (score 1 point for each“yes” answer):
1. Do you own a microscope?
2. Do you pray for rain?
3. Does your heart beat faster when you see a stump? Do yousalivate when you hear the word “morel”?
4. Do you abandon guests, family, or business just to gomushrooming?
5. Do you get evasive and try to change the subject whensomeone mentions your favorite spot for Boletus edulis orMor-chella esculenta?
6. Do you plan your meals around what species sits in yourrefrigerator?
7. Is your temporal framework modified? Do you no longerthink of the seasons as spring and fall, but rather as“morel” and “matsutake”?
8. Do you find yourself used to eating, or even expecting toeat, such items as dirt, hemlock needles, nonamyloid spores, anddipteran larvae?
9. Do you get irritated at little things that keep you frommushrooming? Things like work, home life, police speed traps, and“No Trespassing” signs?
10. When you see a beginner with a choice edible, do yousay, “Gee, that’s an interesting one. Would you mind if Itake it home to study further?”
11. When you drive, are your eyes on the lawns and stumpsalong the roadside more often than on the road?
12. Do you suffer through the winter only with the help offrozen, dried, and pickled mushrooms that clutter up your home? Or,even worse, do you pack up and head to tropical climes where thereare fungi in abundance?
13. Is your idea of eroticism a Phallusravenelii?
14. Do you carry a picture of David Arora in yourwallet?
Sound familiar? Check to see how you scored: 0–4 You may benormal. Pray? 5–8 You may be a mycoholic, but you need to havea spore print taken to be sure. 9–12 You are a confirmedmycoholic. Seek help. 13–14 You are probably beyond help.
Just what are the dangers of mycoholism? Besides the obviousdeleterious effects on social, home, and business life, thisdisease has very real physical complications as well. Mycoholics,in addition to their tendency to have a sore head from walking intothings because of always looking down instead of ahead, frequentlysuffer from a number of physical infirmities that are a directresult of their habit of stooping, bending, kneeling, tugging,lugging, and picking. These include Entoloma Elbow, Dentinum Disc,Naematoloma Neck, Trich Knee, and, with some, a Gymnopilus Glaza tothe eyes. There are some mycoholics whose all-too-frequent boletebinges have reduced them to physical wrecks. These people keepcoming to forays, often dragging pillows on which they can easetheir aching arms after a frantic fungal frolic.
So what can be done for the mycoholic? For a start, you shouldrid your home of all fungi and mycological paraphernalia. Begin bysending all your dried morels and boletes to me. After that,you’re on your own.
BREAKFAST CASSEROLE South Sound Mycological Society
5 slices bread
2 C grated cheese
1 C sliced mushrooms
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp dry mustard
2-1/2C + 3/4 C milk
1-1/2 lb ham
1 C cream of mushroom soup
Tear bread into pieces and scatter over the bottom of a greased9 by 13-in. baking dish. Top with cheese and sliced mushrooms. Beateggs, mustard, and 2-1/2C milk together. Pour over bread. Chop orgrind ham and sprinkle over top. Let stand, covered, inrefrigerator over night. In the morning, combine mushroom soup with3/4 C milk. Pour over casserole. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.
MAGIC MUSHROOM COMEBACK? Marilyn Shaw, SporesAfield, Colorado Mycological Society, March 1995
Shades of the 60s! Teenagers have rediscovered tie-dyes, peacesigns, and, yes, hallucinogenic mushrooms. Dried “magicmushrooms” seem to be readily available on the street.Sometimes they are Psilocybe spp., but other times they arewho-knows-what and have been inoculated with amphetamines and/orother substances to make you feel you’ve gotten yourmoney’s worth.
In the past couple of years, several cases have been referred tothe Rocky Mountain Poison Center involving “bad trips”and severe gastrointestinal illnesses. A frightening trend seems toinvolve (usually) young men randomly consuming LBMs in search of a“high.” In three cases the patients tested positive formarijuana in addition to ingesting wild mushrooms. Two of themthought they were eating Hebeloma spp., identified from abook belonging to the grandmother of one of them. They could notexplain why, if you knew anything about mushrooms, you wouldeat a Hebeloma.
In some cases they had heard that hallucinogenic mushrooms turnblue (some do, some don’t) and set out to try any mushroomwith a blue coloration. These included, in one case, severalCortinarius spp. At least this young man was playing itsafe. He was testing them on his dog. With friends likethat....
Collecting fungi with Dr. Harold Burdsall, Jr., is likewalking your dog—you stop at every tree.