The mycophile

MYC©FHILE

Volume 47:6 November / December 2006 www.namyco.org

Our First Foreign
Fungus Foray

by Bob and Barbara Sommer

Troubled by restrictions on local
collecting? Afraid of being arrested
and fined? Tired of finding familiar
fungi in the same locations every
year? Too much competition in
nearby woods?

If you answered yes to any of
these questions, advertisements for

Continued on page 2

Digital Photo Contest Winners Inside

Walt Sundberg leads a beginner's foray. Note the film crew on hand to record the event.
Photo by B. Bunyard.

NAMA Goes to CanadaReturns with
Marvelous Tales to Tell!

Jasper National Park, Hinton, Alberta, and the warm hospitality of our
Edmonton hosts. Wow, what a treat! This year NAMA traveled north to the
upper reaches of the Canadian Rockies at the invitation of the Edmonton
Mycological Society. The long trip was well worth the effort as the facilities
were superb—a forestry training center, comfy quarters, outstanding food
(plentiful, very tasty, and very healthy) with a profile of the Jasper area
Rockies only 45 miles to the west when we looked out a window or ate
lunch on the outer deck. The weather also cooperated: warm, sunny with
rain before we arrived and again near departure time. It's a shame that only
140 members attended, as the site, weather, mushrooms, and programs
were well worth the effort to get there.

The local coordinators, led by Martin Osis and Melanie Fjoser, and other
members, planned a field-trip-jammed weekend to a very wide variety of
habitats from near-prairie to high-elevation habitats, both dry and wet. We
also visited peaty bog and fen areas, learning the difference between them,
and finding many mushrooms and viewing interesting plants along the way
We were also educated on the behavior necessary in case we shared space
with either brown (grizzly) or black bears and/or moose. (A little black bear
would visit the campus where we were staying.)

Dr. Cathy Cripps of Montana State University a former student of Dr.
Orson Miller Jr., was Chief Mycologist, assisted by Drs. Markus Thormann,

Continued on page 3

In this issue:

President's Message . 2

Forays and Announcements . 3

Fungi in the News . 4

Book Review . 5

Digital Photo Winners . 6, 7

GSMS Foray Registration . 9

ink from Spores . 10

Mushroom of the Month . 12

1

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

(_y he NAMA foray in Hinton, Alberta, was a huge success. The facilities
were more than adequate, and what can I say about the meals? It's safe to
say that I gained a few pounds on this trip! The meals alone were worth the
registration fees. The mushrooms even cooperated, piling up on the collec¬
tion tables in great numbers. I want to thank all of those who helped make
the foray such a great success. A special thanks to Martin Osis, Melanie
Fjoser, and all of the other members of the Edmonton Mycological Society
who worked hard to pull this off. Also to Louis Galick, who first approached
NAMA about coming to Alberta.

Foray 2007 in West Virginia promises to be another success. If next
year's rains come as they have this year, the mushrooms should be abun¬
dant. A walk through the woods this past weekend yielded mushrooms in
every direction.

Several items were discussed at the Trustees' meeting in Hinton.

Among these was the financial condition of NAMA, which remains stable at
this time. Our year ended June 30th and resulted in a small profit for the
Organization. The archiving of NAMA materials with the New York Botani¬
cal Gardens is nearly ready for submission. As you have noticed, Mcllvainea
has returned. Thank you, Britt and Judith. Two new clubs have become affi¬
liated with NAMA, one in Alaska and the other in Mexico. Again this year
the officers and trustees were challenged to contribute to NAMA's Endow¬
ment Fund, and, as usual, they rose to the challenge, donating over $1,000
of their own money to this cause. Many other issues too numerous to go
into here were discussed during the meeting, making for a full day. Many
thanks need to be bestowed upon the members who serve and participate in
these meetings. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a NAMA Trust¬
ees' meeting, you will see that these are truly dedicated individuals.

Continued on page 10

Moving?

Please send your new address,
two weeks before you move, to
Ann Bornstein

NAMA Membership Secretary
336 Lenox Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610-4675
< Membership@namyco.org >

Otherwise —you may not be getting
your newsletter for a while. Each
issue, several Mycophi/es are
returned as undeliverable because of
no forwarding address on file. NAMA
is charged seventy cents for each
returned or forwarded newsletter.

NAMA is a 501(c)(3) charitable
organization. Contributions to support
the scientific and educational activi¬
ties of the Association are always
welcome and may be deductible as
allowed by law. Gifts of any amount
may be made for special occasions,
such as birthdays, anniversaries, and
for memorials.

Special categories include
Friend of NAMA: $500-900
Benefactor: $1000-4900
Patron: $5000 and up
Send contributions to

Judith McCandless, Treasurer
330 Wildwood Place
Louisville, KY40206-2523
<judithmc@iglou.com>

The Sommers in Costa Rica, continued from page 1

Bob sketched this
Veloporphyrellus
pantoleucus while Rolf Singer
paced impatiently waiting to
put this rare specimen into his
dehydrator.

foreign tours in mycology news¬
letters will begin to look appealing.
Some read like recruiting posters for
the US Army: Travel to distant
places. Find exotic mushrooms. Pick
them.

Not surprisingly, our first foreign
fungus foray was also the most
memorable. Psychologists call this a
"primacy effect," like a first sighting
of an Amanita muscaria. You don't
forget when and where you found it,
who was with you, and your emo¬
tional state at seeing firsthand what
has so far been only illustrations in
field guides and drawings on
psychedelic posters paired with
witch's brew and frogs. Recognition
was instantaneous. Yes, there really
are statuesque crimson mushrooms

Continued on page 11

The Mycophi/e is published bimonthly
by the North American Mycological
Association, 6615 Tudor Court,
Gladstone, OR 97027-1032.

NAMA is a nonprofit corporation;
contributions may be tax-deductible.
Web site: www.namyco.org

Isaac Forester, NAMA President
RO. Box 1107

North Wilkesboro, NC 28659-1107

< mycoCPA@aol.com >

Judy Roger, Executive Secretary
6615 Tudor Court
Gladstone, OR 97027-1032

< ExecutiveSec@namyco.org >
<jaroger@comcast.net>

Britt Bunyard, Content Editor
W184 N12633 Fond du Lac Avenue
Germantown, Wl 53022
<bbunyard@wi.rr.com>

Judith Caulfield, Production Editor
927 Lansing Drive
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
<caulfieldst@bellsouth.net>

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

2

FORAYS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gulf States Mycological
Society Winter Foray

St. Francisville, Louisiana
December 1-3

For details and registration form see
page 9 in this Mycophile.

37th Annual Fungus Fair

Oakland, California
December 2-3

Each year the Mycological Society of
San Francisco hosts one or two
mushroom shows (traditionally
called "fungus fairs"). At the show
you will see hundreds of species of
fungi on display along with exhibits
on ecology mycophagy, toxicology,
and cultivation. Bring your

collections to our identification table
for a free ID! The Fair will be held
at the Oakland Museum, Natural
History Section, 10th & Oak Streets,
Oakland, CA. For additional details,
see the MSSF website.

Great news ...

Welcome Back, Tom Volk ! And
finally, it was great to see Tom Volk
at a recent fall foray sponsored by
my home club, the Wisconsin Myco¬
logical Society. In spite of the water¬
logged conditions, Tom was climbing
hills with renewed energy—thanks
to his new heart—in a way reminis¬
cent of a teen-ager. I know I speak
for all of us when I say that I'm

Canada Foray cont. from page 1

from University of Alberta (president
of the Edmonton Society) and
Leonard Hutchison of Lakehead
University in Ontario. The fungi
were so numerous that many
knowledgeable attendees also
pitched in to help identify and record
the specimens. Hope Miller was in
attendance, to the delight of all, and
helped with the recordings.

Hope brought along a large stack
of Dr. Miller's and her newest book

Martin Osis, our Edmonton coordinator.
Photo by Maggie Rogers.

and held a signing. There was a
rush to purchase the available copies
for her signature.

The programs and seminars
offered the usual wide range of
topics, this time with special empha¬
sis on northern boreal and high
elevation habitats.

I think a lot of the audience was
surprised by the tenacity and abun¬
dance of fungi in some rather
austere habitats—above treeline,
near glaciers, and other very non-
fungal appearing habitats. The lead-
off program Thursday night was
about a local Model Forest Project
and study by a multitude of resource
users, investigating how resources
can be extracted without harming
the wildlife or upsetting nature's
balances. Methinks that information
should be widely distributed and
implemented by the parallel agencies
in this country.

The Trustees' Meeting was
enlightening. Three new affiliated
clubs were recognized and wel¬
comed: Kenai Peninsula Mycological
Society of Soldatna; Bay Area Myco¬
logical Society of Oakland;, and
Myco Aficionados of Mexico in Tlax-
cala. All the groups had had inter¬
actions with NAMA beforehand but
are now truly affiliated. Welcome!

looking forward to seeing more of
him at future forays.

And sad news . . .

Elsie Louise Knighton, 88, passed
away Oct. 21, 2006 in Portsmouth,
Ohio. A native of Portsmouth, she
was born April 2, 1918 to the late
Joseph Webb and Frances Mae
Hudson Webb. Elsie was preceded
in death by her husband Harry S.
Knighton on May 26, 1999.

Harry, founder of NAMA, and
Elsie were very active members of
NAMA and organized many of the
annual Forays. Elsie was secretary
of NAMA for many years.

Allein Stanley. Photo by Maggie Rogers.

We shared a moment of silence
remembering the lives of Dr. Bill
Cibula and Dr. Orson K. Miller, Jr.

The Mushroom Dyers commit¬
tee expressed a need for a wider
variety of new supplies of dye
mushrooms. They would like to ask
all those who find some of these
special fungi to collect and ship

Continued on page 8

3

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

FUNGI IN THE NEWS

The big news, of course, is the
recent NAMA Annual Foray in
Alberta. It was a lot of fun, and the
food was probably the best I've
enjoyed at any foray. The scenery
was incredible, the mushrooms
abundant and diverse, the wildlife
amazing (while there or on the road,
my family saw every major large
mammal species in North America,
including mountain lions), and as
Martin promised, there were no
bugs! I could go on and on, but other
space within this issue is devoted to
reviews of the foray. However, I
would like to personally thank all
the members of the Edmonton Club
for the hospitality, and especially to
those members who were camping
with my family at Cache Per cot.
Thanks for the great stories around
the campfire. And thanks for tolerat¬
ing the late night antics of some of
us—you know who you are!

From the Daily Telegraph in England
comes one more reason to disdain
those pathogenic Oomycetes. In
England horse chestnut trees are
being attacked by what could be the
severest threat to an arboreal species
since Dutch elm disease. Many trees
in southern England that were
already suffering from the effects of
European leaf miner moths, which
attack horse chestnut leaves, now
face a more serious problem: a new
form of bleeding canker that causes
lesions on the bark and can destroy
the tree. As many as 10% of
Britain's 500,000 horse chestnuts
have been infected; an estimated
3,000 have died. Canker, which is
caused by two fungi akin to potato
blight, was long thought to be under
control, with only four or five cases
a year. However, as the new millen¬
nium began, the number started to
soar, and it became clear that a new
form of the disease had arisen.
Although the pathogen is not
specifically named in the article, my
guess is that it is Phytophthora
ramorum. This oomycete "fungus"

was recently described in North
America, where it was shown to
cause of Sudden Oak Death (SOD),
and it is now recognized as a serious
threat to a wide variety of trees. A
different strain of this pathogen is
found in Europe. Investigations are
ongoing, and the biology of the
pathogen is still being worked out.

In the latest issue of the journal
Mycologia (98[3j: 365-73) a team of
researchers led by Paul Tooley, of
the USDA at Fort Detrick in Mary¬
land, has published the results of
one such study. The paper, "Growth
and sporulation of Phytophthora
ramorum in vitro in response to
temperature and light," sheds light
on fundamental growth habits of
this economically important oomy¬
cete. Phytophthora ramorum, recently
found in the U.S., is causing con¬
cern for hardwood forests and the
nursery industry. In an effort to
identify some of the environmental
limitations to growth and sporula¬
tion, the researchers conducted a
laboratory study of four U.S. and
three European isolates. On V8
media, isolates grew when incu¬
bated at a wide range of temperature
and uv light conditions. P. ramorum
tolerated a broad range of tempera¬
ture and light conditions, which
suggests why it is capable of estab¬
lishment in a wide geographic area
and is so adaptable—and such an
invasive threat.

More news from the United King¬
dom, this time from the Daily Mail:
An exotic mushroom dubbed "the
elixir of long life" could be the latest
weapon in the fight against cancer.

A group of scientists has found that
extracts of the medicinal fungi
Phellinus linteus can help in treating
prostate cancer. Previous studies
also have suggested that the mush¬
room extracts found on wild mul¬
berry trees can be effective in
treating liver, stomach, and lung
cancer as well as other serious
conditions. The rare mushroom,

known as "Song gen" in China and
"Meshimakobu" in Japan, has long
been known for its medicinal
properties. Sometimes marketed as
"the elixir of long life," it has been
used in Oriental medicine since
ancient times.

Speaking of eating mushrooms . . .

Be careful what you pick and where
you pick them. An article by L.
Cocchi et al. in the latest issue of the
journal Food Chemistry (98[2j: 277-
84), entitled "Heavy metals in edible
mushrooms in Italy," warns of
eating mushrooms contaminated
with toxic compounds. In this study
the distribution of arsenic, cadmium,
lead, mercury, and selenium was
investigated in 1194 samples of 60
species of common, edible mush¬
rooms collected mainly in the
province of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The
quantitative determination of heavy
metals (mg/kg dry weight) was
carried out by spectrophotometry,
with the exception of mercury,
which was determined by atomic
absorption spectroscopy. The amount
of arsenic accumulated in the
samples studied was generally
modest. Sarcosphaera eximia, on the
other hand, may contain arsenic
concentrations reaching 1000 mg/kg
dry weight. Within the Agaricus
subgenus Flavoagaricus, only Agari¬
cus nivescens contains amounts of
cadmium inferior to the allowed
maximum level. The cadmium
levels in samples of Amanita
caesarea , Boletus edulis, and Boletus
pinophilus exceeded the maximum
amount allowed. (Bad news for
Italians—you know how fond they
are of the porcini!) The content of
cadmium in Agaricus macrosporus is
roughly 50 times the maximum
weekly dose recommended by the
World Health Organization. The
average amount of lead present in
all samples was, in general, below
the maximum allowed concentra¬
tion. Agaricus bitorquis, Agaricus

Continued on page 8

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

4

BOOK REVIEW

Common Edible and Poisonous
Mushrooms of New York, by Alan E.
and Arleen R. Bessette. 2006;
Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-
8156-0848-9 (paper); 108 pp. $24.95.

The latest offering from NAMA
members and prolific book-producers
Alan and Arleen Bessette is a slim
but attractive guidebook offering
advice for those interested in eating
the wild mushrooms of New York
state while staying out of the
emergency room.

A brief five pages of introductory
material include mushroom basics,
how to collect mushrooms for the
table, how to make a spore print,
and how to identify mushrooms
using this book. This section is
followed by a picture "key" to ten
main morphological groups of mush¬
rooms: boletes, chanterelles, corals,
false morels, gilled fungi, giant puff¬
balls, Hypomyces, morels, polypores,
and toothed fungi. For each group, a
one-sentence description is provided
along with two example photographs
and page references to the species
treatments in the main text.

Fungi in the News, cont. from page 4

arvensis, Agaricus essettei, Agaricus
albertii, B. pinophilus, Clitocybe
geotropa, and Macrolepiota rachodes
had high contents of mercury that
were within the range 5-10 mg/kg
dry weight. Mushrooms in general,
but species in the B. edulis group in
particular, were rich in selenium. So
it's not simply what you eat, but it's
also where you pick it!

From the latest issue of Mycological
Research (110[7]: 811-20) comes a
paper by Marc Stadler et al. of
Germany that looks at "Changes in
secondary metabolism during
stromatal ontogeny of Hypoxylon
fragiforme." Of course, Hypoxylon
fragiforme is that ubiquitous crusty

The bulk of the book comprises
the species descriptions, separated
into edible and inedible/poisonous
ones. Typically, the treatments
appear on a two-page spread and
include a generously sized photo¬
graph. As we've come to expect
from the Bessettes, the photos are
uniformly excellent, showing the
essential features in an attractive
fashion. The text includes the
scientific and common names, a list
of key ID features, fruit body
description, time and place of
fruiting, edibility, and brief com¬
ments. Twenty species are featured
in the edibles section and ten in the
inedibles section. Additionally, 11
edible species are mentioned in
comments and illustrated in the
picture key at the front of the book.
Two more edible species are men¬
tioned in comments but not illus¬
trated. Most of the species range
well beyond New York state.

The book concludes with guide¬
lines for preparing and eating wild
mushrooms, a selection of seven
illustrated recipes, glossary, list of
recommended readings (of the ten,

little pustule that occurs by the
thousands on fallen trees and is
likely one of the most common
fungal fruitbodies found in the
forest. Stromata of Hypoxylon
fragiforme were studied during the
vegetation period, and a number of
chemical compounds were extracted
and analyzed. Specifically, extracts
were assayed for their nematicidal
effects against the roundworm
Caenorhabditis elegans and their
antimicrobial activities against the
bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Yarrowia
lipolytica and various filamentous
fungi. The results confirmed data in
the literature on broad-spectrum
non-selective activities of secondary
metabolites in biological systems.
Most interestingly, laboratory
cultures of Hypoxylon mainly pro¬

nine are by the Bessettes), and
separate indexes to common and
scientific names.

The strength of the book is its
quality of presentation; it is well
illustrated, attractive, informative,
clearly written, and free of misspell¬
ings and typographical errors.
However, it doesn't deliver enough
to justify its price—only a bit over
100 pages (many of them half white
space) and about 40 species covered,
nearly all of which you would find
in many existing guides. If you're
an eastern mushroomer with at least
a few books—for instance the
Audubon guide and the Bessettes'
Mushrooms of Northeastern North
America— this volume will be largely
superfluous. It will be most attrac¬
tive to hikers and park visitors with
a casual interest in mushrooms, or
novice pot-hunters, perhaps as a gift
for that friend of yours interested in
joining you in your hobby.

—Steve Trudell
Seattle , Washington

duced dihydroisocoumarin deriva¬
tives, of possible interest to the
pharmaceutical industry. The
authors discuss the possible biologi¬
cal functions of secondary metabo¬
lites in the family Hypoxyloideae.

It's great to see Mushroom the
Journal getting back on schedule.

The summer issue was a treasure
trove, as always. Especially note¬
worthy were articles on "Mushroom¬
ing around the World" (a lengthy
tour of Tibet in search of the elusive
caterpillar fungus), an "Existential
Mushroom" (you'll never guess
which one!), a photo essay entitled
"Napolean as a Mushroom" and a
great story by Bob Sommer on fairy

Continued on page 8

5

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

6

Documentary Awards

On the Internet:

To view) all the digital photos that won
awards or honorable mention, go to
http://photos.yahoo.com/namphocon
and select the Photo Album entitled

06 Awards.

First Place:

Crucibu/um laeve by David C. Work.A

Second Place:

Lepiota rachodes by Charles Fonaas.B

Third Place:

Phaeolus schweinitzii byRichMably.C

Honorable Mention: Craterellusfallax by Noah M. Siegel;
Ascocoryne sarcoides by Rich Mably; Cantharellus cibarius by
Noah M. Siegel; Ca/ocybe carnea by Noah M. Siegel;
Coprinopsis lagopus by Donald F. Bryant; Laccaria laccata by
Noah M. Siegel; Lysurusperiphragmoides by Ron J. Meyers;
Agaricus by Charles Fonaas; Cortinarius by Noah M. Siegel;
Spinel/us fusiger on Mycena leptocephela by Donald F. Bryant

Pictorial Awards

First Place:

Cortinarius vanduzerensis by Noah M. Siegel (see p. 1).D

Second Place:

Amanita jacksonii by Noah M. Siegel .E

Third Place:

Young Polypore by David C. Work.F

Honorable Mention: C/avu/inopsis fusiformis by
Noah M. Siegel; Marasmiussiccus by David C. Work; Reflections
in a Mushroom by Robert L. Kaplan; Amanita muscaria pileus by
Donald F. Bryant; Fiammuiina ve/utipes by David C. Work; Slime
Taking Over the World by Noah M. Siegel; Spring Beauties
Morchella e/ata and C/aytonia caroiiniana by Noah M. Siegel;
Trichaptum biformis by David C. Work

Judges' Option Commendations

Leaf Impression in a Toothed Fungus by Robert L. Kaplan

Gnat on Mycena aurantiodiscus by Rich Mably.

Siamese Twins by Ronald J. Meyers.J

7

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

l O

Canada Foray, continued from page 3

Cathy Cripps of Montana State U with her husband, Don Bachman

them to the Chairs, Viola and Melanie Spock. Some
regions of the country have more than others, and they
would appreciate any that can be sent their way.

The Mycophagy Committee, headed by Ursula
Pohl, also asked that members send her good dried

Fungi in the News, continued from page 4

ring mushrooms. In Bob's article we learn the origin of
the name Marasmius oreades and, more amazingly, we
find out that there is downhill skiing in Kansas! Of
course, there are also crosswords, word puzzles,

Maggie Rogers, and numerous other reasons to pick up
your own copy!

Minnesota Mushroom Poisoning —A tragic case of
mushroom poisoning occurred recently in Minnesota.
The state Health Department there reports that seven
members of a Hmong community in the Twin Cities
were hospitalized September 9 after eating poisonous
mushrooms they picked in St. Paul's Keller-Phalen
Regional Park. A 10-year-old girl died on September 15;
two others were still hospitalized in intensive care as
this issue went to press. All the other members of the
family were recovering. Minnesota Mycological Society
experts Ron Spinosa and Anna Gerenday were called to
the hospital to identify a specimen that was brought in
with the patients. The mushrooms were confirmed to
have been that of the Eastern American Destroying
Angel (Amanita bisporigera ), which can easily be mis¬
taken for nonpoisonous mushrooms, especially the
paddy straw mushroom, Volvariella volvacea, popular in
Southeast Asian cuisine. Anna recently told me that
this case has kept her very busy, and she recently gave
a presentation at a poison control center to help educate
the public on identification of poisonous mushrooms.

specimens for the cooking session or bring with them
to the forays. It is very difficult to collect enough in her
area for such large groups, and her once abundant
supply is depleted.

The Photographic Committee announced that, with
the popularity of digital cameras and demise of film/
slides, there is now only one category for slides, while
the digital section is being expanded. Watch for a
formal announcement and contest entry rules in
January.

It was decided that previous years' Mycophiles will
be available online at the www.namyco.org website.

Many other topics were discussed and will be
published when the actual minutes are published.

At the general meeting on Saturday night, the
recipients of the NAMA Awards were announced:

Contributions to Amateur Mycology

Dr. Michael Beug, Toxicology Chair, longtime member,
professor (retired), mentor, and all-around great guy.

Knighton Award

Richard "Dick" Dougall of the Western Pennsylvania
Mycological Society, for his teaching, identifying, and
promoting the society in his region.

President's Award

Ann Bornstein, Membership Secretary, for her many
years of service.

The official invitation to next year's Annual Foray
was given. I hope to see all of you in 2007 at Pipestem,
West Virginia. As for 2008? . . . Oddsmakers are betting
on McCall, Idaho—Dr. Orson Miller's own stomping
grounds! Watch for more information as plans develop.

—Judy Roger

IDushrauf)

The Journal of Wild Mushrooming

4 issues (1 yr) = $25; 12 issues (3 yrs) = $65 (save $10)
For 20 years, MTJ has provided information of
value to those who like to hunt, name, cook, study,
and photograph wild mushrooms. We're proud of
the job we do of reviewing books of interest to
the amateur mycologist. Our Letters column lets
you speak out and contact others to seek that
special book or sell that historic mushroom basket.
So check us out at

www. mushroomthejournal. com

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

8

GULF STATES MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY WINTER FORAY
"In the Footsteps of Audubon"

NAMA REGIONAL FORAY December 1-3, 2006, in St. Francisville, Louisiana

Located on a bluff above the Mississippi River
floodplain, St. Francisville has a long and colorful
history. Once a burial ground for Spanish monks and
later a major port between New Orleans and Natchez, it
is now known for its history, close proximity to the
Tunica Hills, and elegant antebellum homes. We plan
to foray in the Hills and on the grounds of some of the
homes.

John James Aububon spent 23 months in the area
as a tutor and painted 80 of his North America bird
folios here. The Oakley House, where he tutored, is the
centerpiece of the Audubon State Historic Site. Geologi¬
cally, St. Francisville lies on loess soil bluffs, which
were created by powerful dust storms during the
Glacier Period. It is botanically diverse and is the most
southern location of morels along the Gulf Coast.

Foray headquarters will be the Best Western-St.
Francis Hotel on the Lake, U.S. Hwy. 61 at LA Hwy.

10. Guest mycologists will be Drs. Patrick Leacock and
Kentaro Hosaka, both with the Field Museum of
Natural History in Chicago. Pat's specialty is the genus
Lactarius, and Kentaro is an expert on the Hysteran-
giales, which include the stinkhorns, Gomphus, and
various groups of false truffles. Both mycologists will
give presentations and assist with mushroom identifi¬
cation

St. Francisville is located on Hwy. 61, about 60
miles south of Natchez, MS, and about 40 miles north
of Baton Rouge. RV camping is available. The nearest
airports are in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA, and
Jackson, MS; major carriers serve them.

Registration is limited to 50 people and/or 35 rooms.
Cost of the foray is $230 for a single or $155 per person
for a double (total $310). These prices include registra¬
tion, lodging, and meals except Saturday lunch. You
must be a NAMA or GSMS member to attend.

REGISTRATION FORM

Deadline for Registration November 22, 2006, or when rooms are filled.

Name(s)

Address

City, State, Zip _

Phone: (_)_E-mail:_

Single EH Double EH Couple EH NAMA member EH GSMS member EH

Name of preferred roommate(s) _ Please find me a roommate EH

Registration Fees

Single occupancy: $230. $

Double occupancy: $310 ($ 155 per person). $

I prefer King bed EH Two double beds EH Total. $

Make checks or money orders payable to Gulf States Mycological Society (GSMS).

Mail to Patricia Lewis, RR 2 Box 194 L, Newton, TX 75966. Questions? Call Pat at (409) 423-3776
or e-mail < plewis@jas.net > .

We will be traveling frequently until October 23, so expect late responses. Also, sorry in advance for not
getting this into The Mycophile sooner.

9

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

The Production of
Ink from the
Spores of Fungi

by Rolf Singer

Many mushrooms produce spores
with dark pigments that may be
used for producing ink for calligra¬
phy and printing. Species so em¬
ployed are found in the genera
Lycoperdon, Bovista, Pisolithus, Poly-
saccum, and Scleroderma among the
Gastromycetes; also species of the
Ustilaginea [rusts], Elaphomycetales
[truffles], and even Myxomycetes
[slime molds]. But until now no
experiments have been carried out
to study the serviceability and
usefulness of such inks.

More than 100 years ago the
French mycologist [Jean Baptiste
Francois] Buillard [1752-93] recom¬
mended the dung-loving species of
Coprinus [Inky Caps] for producing
ink. Herein is reported the satisfac¬
tory results obtained using inks
prepared from Coprinus atramentarius
[the Alcohol Inky Cap] and Coprinus
comatus [the Shaggy Mane or
Lawyer's Wig], which are commonly
found in gardens and other rich
places.

In the Soviet Union many
mushrooms with a cap possess

interesting possibilities. Coprinus
species have gills that are very close
together and the edges of which are
not perpendicular to the stem even
upon maturity, and because of that
the spores do not fall downward to
be spread by the wind. Instead, the
gills deliquesce or dissolve and
become smeared upon passing
animals, which spread the spores.

C. atramentarius and C. comatus
are the largest inky cap species
common in Europe and Asia. As an
edible mushroom, C. comatus is good
but it does not make as black an ink
as C. atramentarius. Thus, this report
will limit discussion to the latter.

C. atramentarius has a cap that is
gray-brown, furry, with central
flakes or scales upon the surface.
The cap is striate and shaped like an
egg or a bell 5-10 cm in diameter.
The gills are at first white, then
brown, and finally black and melted
together. The entire cap becomes an
inky liquid. The spores are ellipsoid
7.5-11 x 4.5-6.5 microns; the stem
white and hollow; the inferior ring
or annulus about the stem soon
disappears. The trama or flesh of the
mushroom is white to gray brown
and without odor. It fruits in dense
clusters from May to November.

[This description abridges the
technical diagnosis in the original].

With regard to making ink it is
important to collect the mushroom
before it is fully deliquescent and
thus too old. On the other hand, if
the harvested material is not devel¬
oped enough, then the quality of the
ink will be bad. One must filter the
fungal liquid through thick mesh
cheesecloth and then decant and
discard the top clear layer of liquid
above the dark residue of the spores.
This separates the unpigmented
material from the spores.

The inky deposit is quite gritty,
and therefore one should add gum
arabic to promote adhesion. [Histori¬
cally, gum arabic— a water soluble
gum obtained from several species
of the acacia tree—was used to
increase the viscosity of ink or to
make it flow well, to prevent it from
feathering, and to suspend the
coloring matter.]

The native ink has two features:

(1) it has an unpleasant smell, and

(2) it tends to separate and form a
hard precipitate. Therefore, in
addition to gum arabic, a perfume
such as clove oil is incorporated,
which also helps preserve the ink.
Before using a pen with a nib, shake
the ink in the bottle.

Spore ink produces a pleasant
black-brown color similar to Chinese
inks. The ink may be saved for as
long as eight years. As a natural
science exercise, students could
prepare ink for themselves for use
in school.

Herbarium slides of spore prints
are very stable, and the spore ink is
permanent. The shape of the spores
in the ink is constant, and it is easy
to look at the paper with a micro¬
scope to confirm that a signature on
an important document agrees with
the original ink. Oxalic acid from
sorrel does not destroy or bleach the
pigment of the spores, and therefore
spore ink ensures protection against
forgeries employing detergents or
acids to erase the writing. Indeed,
inks produced from different mush¬
rooms could be used as “finger¬
prints" to uniquely identify different
writings.

Priroda [Nature] No. 1 January 1938,
pp 121-23. Translated from the
Russian by Elena Sivan-Loukianova.
Transcribed by Dean Abel (from
Symbiosis, newsletter of the Prairie
State Mushroom Club, and reprinted
here with permission of the author).

Ike's Message, cont. from page 2

Membership continues to be a
concern; it stayed fairly level during
the past year. I encourage each of
you to talk about NAMA to your
fungal friends and other members of
your clubs. The more people in¬
volved in NAMA, the more we can
grow and continue to promote
programs and literature for the
advancement of mycology in North
America, not to mention that we'll
just have more fun the more of us
there are. —Ike

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

10

The Sommers in Costa Rica, cont. from page 2

with white flecks on the cap, a ring on the stipe, and a
raggedy annulus. No need for a spore print. Our first
response was a mixture of surprise that mushrooms
like this existed in local woods (we had not seen them
before) and satisfaction from making the correct
identification.

Coming early in our mushrooming careers, our
first foreign fungus foray to Costa Rica set a high
standard. The trip was organized in 1986 by Manny
Salzman of Fungophile with logistical support from the
Organization for Tropical Studies. Experts were the
creme de la creme of professional mycology—Rolf
Singer, Greg Mueller, and Jean Love—plus faculty from
the local university and major figures in amateur
mycology—Gary Lincoff and David Arora. Also in the
group was Sara Freedman, author of Celebrating the
Wild Mushroom; mushroom historian Steven Thomas;
one professional forager; two retired army colonels,
three M.D.s; and a gaggle of Ph.Ds. As they say in
New York City, everyone was there, and you should have
been there, too.

Costa Rica promotes ecotourism, with more of its
land in national parks and reserves than any other
country in the world. At the conjoining of the Northern
and Southern Hemispheres, Costa Rica contains fauna
and flora from both. We encountered naturalists from
fields we didn't know existed (when you met a young
person carrying a notebook, you asked, "What's your
critter?") and learned about tropical snakes, frogs, leaf-
cutter ants, monkeys, and bats. David Arora and Steve
Thomas led an after-dark expedition with flashlights
and headlamps in search of nocturnal insects.

Best of all, from the standpoint of mushrooming,
was that picking was legal, both in national parks and
on private land. We stopped the bus alongside grassy
fields, clambered over fences without fear of being
shot, and gamboled through cow paddies in search of
Psilocybe cubensis. We collected in dry tropical low¬
lands, in soggy rain-soaked woods, and in high cloud
forests, ever respectful of habitat.

Memorable moments

• Discovering several new species and having the
technical expertise in our group to make a preliminary
determination.

• Observing interactions between experts by training
(professional mycologists), experts by experience (noted
authors of field guides), and advanced amateurs with
expertise in other fields. Each had something to con¬
tribute to the ongoing dialog.

• Realizing that experts weren't the best mushroom
finders. Lost in discussions of nomenclature and
structure, they were more interested in one another
than in nearby fungi, and name-dropping became a
potlatch ceremony ("Here is my gift to you; what can
you give me in return?").

Whs this the first North American forest
sighting of a Shiitake?

• Observing how professional mycologists used dehy¬
drators to prepare herbarium specimens. Bob [Sommer],
who painted watercolors of unusual mushrooms, had to
rescue several models from the gas chambers. He
painted a rare Veloporphyrellus pantoleucus he had
collected [see page 2]; meanwhile, Rolf Singer impa¬
tiently paced outside the room demanding he surrender
his model to science. Art was clearly a lesser activity.

• On the tree-studded lower slopes of the Poas volcano,
Barbara's discovering what appeared to be a Shiitake

(Lentinula edodes ), possibly the first wild sighting in the
Western Hemisphere of this choice edible.

• Meeting a young woman who drew blood from bats.
Humankind was taking revenge! We saw her sweeping
the forest floor with a broom at dusk. She repeated this
ritual at dawn, each time counting the number of seeds
within a defined grid. Her goal was to compare nightly
seed dispersion by bats with daytime dispersion by
birds.

• Seeing how easily a false rumor can spread in the
mycology world. Nine years after the foray (!) a critical
article appeared in a mushroom periodical purporting to
describe habitat destruction by our group. The article
was written by a person who had not been on the tour,
and it was based on his discussion with another person
who had not been on the tour.

• Exchanging photographs, sketches, collection lists,
and recollections with other participants after we
returned home. We have gone on other foreign forays
since then, but Costa Rica remains the most salient
because it came first. The trip greatly strengthened our
interest in mushrooming. We never travel anywhere
without David or Gary in the boot.

11

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

North American Mycological Association

336 Lenox Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610-4675

Address Service Requested

NONPROFITORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID

PERMIT NO. 1260
CHAS. WV 25301

Newalsttar of the Nortti American M ynalogioal Association

Mushroom of the Month

The Provincial mushroom for Alberta,
Leccinum boreale. For details on the
2006 Summer Foray, dig into this issue.
Photo courtesy of Ron Meyers.

The Mycophile, November/December 2006

12