Spore Prints

Agnes A. Sieger, Editor

Membership Meeting

Tuesday, February 13, 2001, at7:30 PM in theCenter for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle

Our speaker this month will be Maggie Rogers, whowill speak on ``Hunting Mushrooms Without Getting Wet.''

How can you do this? Maggie will coach you onfinding the best in mushroom books, journals, and publications ofmyco-organizations that will keep your mind sharp and your feetdry. Maggie attends national and international mushroom meetingsand forays, bringing back swatches of new myco-ideas and photos ofbeautiful activities. A long-time member of the North AmericanMycological Association, she can tell tales not often heard.Proprietor of Fungal Cave Books, ``previously owned mushroombooks,'' she scouts for out-of-print mycological resources, and isalso the co-editor of Mushroom, the Journal of WildMushrooming, now in its 19th year. Have YOU contributed toit?

CALENDAR

Feb. 13 Membership meeting,7;30 PM atCUH

Feb. 19 Board meeting, 7;30PM , CUH BoardRoom

Mar. 9 March Spore Prints deadline (Notelate date.)
Remember to use our new address, e-mail andphone number (page 4).

Mar. 24 Survivor's Banquet andAnnual Meeting, 6:30 PM, CUH

Election Election Election

This year we are voting for a Vice-President,Secretary, and five Trustees. Please read the following profilescarefully and mark your choice on the enclosed ballot. Return yourballot to ``PSMS Election,'' 3214 Byron St., Seattle, WA 98144. Aballot box will also be available at the February meeting. Eachfamily membership is entitled to two votes, and each individualmembership to one vote.

Secretary

Brandon Matheny

After serving on the PSMS Board a number of years,I'm happy to continue my involvement by running for Secretary. Ihave experience as Education Chair and as Co-Chair of the AnnualExhibit in 1999. I'm currently in my third year in graduate schoolat the UW working toward a PhD in agaric systematics.

Vice-President

Karin Mendell

Since joining PSMS in 1998, I've served as BookSales Chair twice and the past year as a Trustee. Now with yoursupport, I will serve as Vice-President, scheduling speakers forour monthly meetings. PSMS is a terrific organization. I love thefield trips, the forays, and all the great folks I've met.Thanks!!

Trustees

Colin Meyer

I joined the society in fall 1998. I have servedPSMS as a Board Member for two years, and as the webmaster andChair of Education for one year. I created an e-mail listserver formembers to communicate with each other. I'd like to encourageinterest in education and amateur science in PSMS.

Steve Dally

Since I joined PSMS last summer, I have beenoverwhelmed with the wonderful world of mushrooms. I have met somany friendly and knowledgeable people, always ready to share theirenthusiasm and experience. I am now looking for the opportunity togive something back to this group by serving on the board.

Micala Root

Searching for chanterelles was my introduction tomushrooming. Finding those golden coins littering the forest floorwas a thrill. The search for my first bolete led me to PSMS.Although the bolete still eludes me, the education and fellowshipof PSMS have made me want to become and remain an activemember.

Matthew J. Ironside

I think it is our group's diversity that is one ofour strong points. Whether your interest in fungi is agricultural,educational, environmental, recreational, or scientific, or if youjust plain like to eat 'em, it seems PSMS has a place for you. If Ifind myself on the board, I would see my job as one to helpmaintain that diversity.

Ramona Owen

Born in Micronesia, Ramona is a graduate student inmedical anthropology, a solo parent, and works for a biotech firm.She served as board member/secretory for an after-school enrichmentprogram and has helped develop community mental health programs.She and her daughater have been PSMS members since 1991.

Marian Maxwell

A member since 1978. I have chaired trayarrangement for the show since 1983 and once served on the boardfor two years. Since I look old enough to BE a mushroom in thispicture, my family thought it would convince you to vote for me. Inreality, I will take this position seriously.

Juli Pettingill

While living in Florida, I took a quirky coursecalled ``Mushroom and Man.'' The professor often waxed poetic aboutPacific Northwest mushrooms. After moving here in 1993, I'veenjoyed the education and companionship provided by this wonderclub. Besides mushrooms, I value good times, creative expression,and diversity.

Pacita Roberts

As a longtime member of the society (since 1983),I've had the privilege of meeting many fantastic people, and haveenjoyed their camerderie in the many aspects of mycologicalpursuits. I now hope to have the opportunity to con-tribiute tothis Society, which has been a soucrce of intellectual andscientific endeavor as well as just plain fun.

Patrice Benson

I would like to continue working for PSMS as atrustee. I am involved with I.D., education, and culinary pursuitsthat I love to share with others at PSMS. I can put my pastexperience as President and trustee to use working for the societyas a board team member.

David Hunt

I have never met a mushroom that I did not admire!Having collected and eaten mushrooms for more than 30 years, to myknowledge without harm to myself or others, I am deeply indebted tothe past and present members who have been my guides. Now, as Iapproach my dotage, I look forward to serving others as a member ofthe Board.

Don & Cathy Lennebacker

We have had the best time this last year. Thanks toall of you, mushrooming has been a real fun experience for the bothof us. It has given us the opportunity to combine our favoriteactivities, camping, hiking, treasure hunting, learning, and makingnew friends. We attended almost all of the field trips this lastyear and learned something new each time. After taking both thebeginning and intermediate identification classes, we are startingto feel more sure of what we find. Now we would like a chance togive back to you all so if you would kindly give us your votes wewould be happy to serve on the board. Because we live in Mukeltio,we would prefer to both serve on the Board.

International Mushroom Banquet:Survive THIS! Patrice Benson

PSMS goes global for this year'sSurvivor's Banquet. On March 24, 2001, at 6:30 PM, we will gather at the Center forUrban Horticulture for our POTLUCK Banquet. Our goal is to feast onan array of mushroom and other favorite dishes from around theworld. So get out your favorite ethnic recipe and plan on attendingthis fun and affordable feast. We will have some surpriseentertainment so get your reservations early. A minimal charge of$5 must accompany your reservation request. Prepare to sign up atthe February meeting with payment or mail your name(s) and $5 perperson to

Bernice Velategui

2929 76th Ave. SE #504

Mercer Island, WA 98040

Reservations will be limited to 150participants.

Each diner should bring his or her favorite familyor ethnic heritage recipe fully prepared and ready to share. Pleasebring a copy of your recipe, which will be collected in the recipebox and could be included in Spore Prints or our nextcookbook. Please bring a serving utensil and label your dish withyour name in case it is left behind. If your offering containsmushrooms, please prepare a tag to place in the dish to notifyfolks as to genus and species. Please be certain of youridentification and thoroughly cook your mushrooms when serving themto others. If your last name begins with

A-H bring anentrée.

I-M bring salad, cut fruit,or bread,

N-Z bring desserts

Dress in costume if you wish and don't forget yourfavorite wine. Bring your favorite mushroom chachka for display atthe mushroom artifacts table. Plates, cups, utensils andnonalcoholic beverages will be provided. Call Patrice Benson,Banquet Chair, at (206) 722-0691 with questions.

Spring IdentificationClasses ColinMeyer

PSMS will offer Beginning and Intermediate MushroomIdentification classes this spring. The classes will be betweenfour and six sessions each, and be held on weeknight evenings atthe Center for Urban Horticulture. Classes will start in April andcontinue through May. Specific dates will be announced next month.Please contact Colin Meyer for more information at cmeyer@helvella.org or (206) 7226687.

Microscopy Class Colin Meyer

Judy Roger has offered to teach BeginningMycological Microscopy to PSMS members once again. She is anexcellent, thorough teacher who makes the study of minute detailsfascinating. This will be a one or two day course, held on a yet tobe determined weekend in March. Please contact Colin Meyer for moreinformation at cmeyer@helvella.org or (206) 7226687.

THANKS!

The PSMS Board wishes to extend its thanks to

Elaine Nonneman, for her $50 donation to thePSMS Ben Woo Scholarship Fund.

Mike Lovelady, resigning Field Trip Chair,for his work during the past year.

BOARD NEWS Agnes Sieger

December - Joanne reports that we made justunder $300 on sales of Stamets' book and the raffle; the proceedswill go to the new Ben Woo Scholarship Fund. Dick Sieger agreed torevise he membership form. Karen Mendell suggested that MikeHolbridge may wish to lead the Cultivation Group. Lorraine Dod isworking on proposed revisions to the bylaws. Possible candidateswere discussed for the upcoming election.

January - Membership renewals are startingto come in. Colin Meyer will be offering beginning and intermediateID classes in the spring as well as a microscopy class. MikeLovelady can no longer continue as Field Trip Chair, and we need anew chair. We also still need a hospitality chair and a show chair.This year's Survivor's Banquet will be Saturday, March 24; thetheme is an ethic potluck, and we will be entertained by The PolishSingers. Patrice Benson suggested PSMS might want to join Cosco andlisted some of the advantages. Lorraine Dod passed around suggestedrevisions to the PSMS bylaws. Merrill and Gloria Barber offered todo cartoons for the Spore Prints. Mike Mueller with theForest Service would like a few PSMS people with some ID experienceto work with Key Council members on a mushroom survey at TallTimbers near Leaven-worth the weekend of May 11-13.

NOTE: CHANGE OF SPORE PRINTS ADDRESS

No, I'm not retiring from Spore Prints . I'mjust retiring from the UW the end of January and moving to ClallamCounty between Sequim and Port Angeles. Submissions to the Marchand all future Spore Prints should be e-mailed to

sieger@worldnet.att.net

or snail-mailed to

Agnes Sieger
271 Harmony Lane
Port Angeles, WA 98362

You can also phone me at (360) 452-7284. Donot use the old phone number or the e-mail address at theUW.

GOOD VERSUSBAD Susan Goldhor
Boston Mycological Club Bulletin ,December 2000

Good versus bad, black versus white, spy versuscounterspy: there seems to be something in our (left versus right)brains that feels comfortable with such embattled dichotomies¾ regardless of the political unrest theymay cause. This comfort undoubtedly accounts for the popularity ofwar, spy, and crime novels as well as that of video arcades, wherekids become addicted to a virtual reality of total identificationwith one side and all out attacks upon another. It's as if we sharesome deep, physiologically imprinted craving for simple patterns ina world where simplicity is hard to come by, and usuallydeceptive.

But Nature doesn't play good guy-bad guy games.Nature has only one goal: fitness, and any trait or trick that getsyou there, wins. It's only us humans who persist in putting labelsonto certain species, so that wolves are noble and hyenas arehorrid, while coyotes are ``God's dog'' to some sentimentalists andthe scourge of the Southwest (and, now the Northeast) to others.We'd be annoyed if another species classed us all as Hitlers andMilosevichs and entertained to be all thought Mozarts and MotherTeresas.

Even more than coyotes, fungi pose the ultimatechallenge for humans who fall into the Manichean trap of thegood-evil divide. It's difficult not to form categories, separatingthe good fungi (delicious, nutritious, medicinal, supporting theforest) from the bad fungi (ugly, rotting, toxic, pathogenic).Goodness knows, I've done it in this column. On the one hand wehave penicillin saving lives; on the other hand, witches' broom,black pod rot, and frosty pod rot threatening us with the loss of(gasp) chocolate. Isn't it clear that we have both friends and foesin the fungal kingdom? Well...maybe. And, just to complicate ourthinking, there are some real dichotomies in nature, such aspredator versus prey, parasite versus host, pathogen versus immunesystem. Although these are not (from Nature's viewpoint) goodversus bad, they do show us ongoing battles, with each sidedesperately running an evolutionary arms race to gain an advantageover, or at least to match, the foe.

One of the most intriguing articles that I haveseen on this topic appeared in the November 17th issue ofScience (T.S . Sebbhati,
J.T. Engle, W.E. Goldman, Science, 290, 1368, 2000)on Histoplasma capsulatum. Bruce Klein, in his Perspectiveon this article in the same issue (p. 1311) starts out by saying,``At least 70,000 fungal species inhabit our planet, yet remarkablyfew of them cause disease in humans. This happy coexistence may beset to change, however, as opportunistic fungal species (such asCandida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus) and pathogenicfungi (such as Histoplasma capsulatum) take advantage ofpatients who are immunosuppressed whether because of treatment withtoxic cancer drugs or because of a primary infection with, forexample, human immunodeficiency virus. The AIDS epidemic itself haschanged the epidemiology of fungal diseases; for example, theincidence of cryptococcal meningitis caused by the fungusCryptococcus neoformans has increased 1000-fold in New YorkCity alone.

``Dimorphic fungi¾the silent majority of pathogenic fungal species¾ exist as either a free-living mycelial (mold)form in soil or as a parasitic yeast form that inhabits cells suchas macrophages within a mammalian host. The mold forms aresaprophytes that absorb nutrients from dead organic matter in thesoil and produce infectious spores. When inhaled by mammals, thesespores are induced to undergo a morphogenetic transformation intothe yeast form by the warmer temperature of the mammalianrespiratory tract.''

``Histoplasmosis, the disease caused by the yeastform of this fungus, is found worldwide and is endemic in the Ohioand Mississippi River Valley of the U.S. where most people areinfected by age 20.'' So this is not one of your occasional,odd-ball fungal pathogens.

I think that what I found most fascinating aboutthe research carried out was its spy-versus-counterspy descriptionof the tactics each side uses. When the yeasts enter our bodies,our immune systems do their usual thing and send our macrophages toengulf them. In response to promptings from our T lymphocytes, thehost macrophages block the reproduction of the yeasts bysequestering iron¾a useful trick,since it's required for reproduction, not only by yeasts but bybacteria. Now usually, our bodies' next step would be to activatelysosomal enzymes that would destroy the invaders. However, theyeast defense machinery is able to block one of the steps necessaryfor this activation. Then, in a really cunning trick, they send outa protein into their calcium-poor environment, which mops up freecalcium ions and delivers them back to the yeasts. The calciumallows the yeasts to survive under calcium-limiting conditions,while awaiting a temporary weakness of the immune system, whichwill allow them to grab a little iron and multiply. The mold formof H. capsulatum doesn't make this calcium-grabbing protein,and it cannot survive in a calcium-poor environment; only the yeastform does this.