Welcome to PSMS!

We are an organization that encourages the research, education, cultivation, hunting, identification and the cooking of mushrooms. With over 2,400 members, PSMS
is one of the largest mycological societies in the country.

We share our knowledge about mushrooms through meetings, classes, workshops and field trips.

Please join us at a meeting or become a member today!

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Latest PSMS News

The Puget Sound Mycological Society is an ALL volunteer non-profit organization. PSMS does not have ANY employees.

Fall 2023 "Hildegard Hendrickson ID Clinics" at CUH are done for the season!

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out. See you in the spring!

PSMS Inclusivity Statement

For over fifty years, the Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS) has nurtured collaboration amongst its members for an understanding and appreciation of the wide diversity of mushroom species in the Pacific Northwest. We also depend on a diverse membership to support our mission to foster the understanding and appreciation of mycology as a hobby and a science. In recent months, as systematic inequality in U.S. society is revealed to a broader audience, it becomes clearer that inequality imposes barriers on marginalized groups to participation in a wide variety of activities. PSMS opposes all barriers that limit participation in mycology. PSMS and its board members support a more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming organization where all people, especially those who are underrepresented in our organization and society at large, can enjoy mushrooms and all of the activities associated with them. We realize this will be an on-going conversation and are looking to our members for suggestions on ways to increase diversity, inclusivity, and welcoming. Thank you as we join together to make this long-overdue journey toward systemic equality!

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, Apr. 9, 2024 - 7:30pm

Monthly Meeting

Efren Cazares - The Genus Ramaria of the Pacific Northwestern United States

Click here to join this meeting virtually.

The membership meeting on April 9, 2024, will be a "hybrid" meeting, both in-person at the Center for Urban Horticulture and virtual on Zoom. We will start letting people into the CUH meeting hall at about 7:00 pm and into the Zoom meeting at about 7:20 pm. The meeting will begin at approximately 7:30 pm. This month we will be focusing on one of the more beautiful members of our Spring Fungi, Ramaria. If you have wondered about the details of this Basidiomycete which looks in some ways like a marine coral, this is the lecture to attend. Efren Cazares, a Ramaria expert, will be sharing with us virtually on ZOOM and provide you the opportunity to ask some questions about these interesting fungi. Prior to the lecture, we will also be conducting some PSMS Club business and making announcements that will be important to the membership. This will include transitioning from myself to our new Vice President, Joe Zapotosky. Please attend, be informed, and prepare for the upcoming Spring season.

Efren (Dr Cazares) presentation is entitled "The Genus Ramaria of the Pacific Northwestern United States". He will talk about Ramaria's history, taxonomy, morphology and ecology. To aid you in identifying the various species of Ramaria, he will provide key characteristics to distinguish one from the other.

Efren Cazares-Gonzalez is a Mycologist who specializes in mycorrhizal fungi. He obtained his PhD in the Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University in 1992. He was a Professor at a Technological Institute at the University of Tamaulipas in Cd, Victoria, Mexico from 1993 to 1995. He was also an Assistant Research Professor at Oregon State University from 1995 to 2007. He founded MycoRoots, a consulting company dedicated to increasing the knowledge about and the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi and their ecology. He provides fungi assessment and management services to individuals and companies including: private land owners, mycorrhizal fungi inoculant producers, plant nurseries, farmers, other environmental consultants, plant restoration companies, landscape architects and golf course management, to name a few. He is a taxonomy expert on coral fungi and truffles for the US Forest Service and US Department of Agriculture. As a Teacher, Researcher and Author, Efren has been published in peer-reviewed journals and lectured in international forums.