0601mn

Mycena News
The Mycological Society of  San Fr ancisco  Januar y, 2006, vol 57:01
CONTENTS
January Speaker............................................1
MycoDigest: The Question.........................1
Myco-Blitz.....................................................2
Foragers' Report..........................................3
A Very Special Place....................................6
Freedom Song................................................7
Beginners' Forays........................................8
Slide Photo Program...................................8
Calendar ......................................................10
MycoDigest is a section of the Mycena News dedicated to the scientific reiew of recent
Mycological Information.
Continued on page 5
Continued on page 4
Mycodigest: The What-Where-
and-When Question
Else Vellinga
Every year at the fungus fair, all the species that are identified are painstakingly
recorded and a list is put together (available at the MSSF website). These lists go back
a long time, far into the seventies. What do these lists tell us?
The lists as such give some information on the mushroom species growing in the
bigger San Francisco Bay area, and show which species are commonly fruiting at a
certain time. They also can show trends; some species may suddenly appear on the
lists, others might vanish.
More data than names are needed if we want to draw conclusions from the lists.
Where were the mushrooms exactly collected? What dates were the fairs? What was
the weather like before the collecting and during the summer months? Who went out
in the field, and how many in each area, and who did the identification, what sources
did they use, and were collections preserved to check the names?
A name, suddenly appearing on a list, does not necessarily mean that the species
is new to the area. An expert in that particular group of mushrooms might have been
present and introduced the locals to this species, or a key might have been published,
making at last identification of Cortinarius species possible (to name a notoriously
neglected group in the recording). If the lists went further back in time, perhaps twice
as far as they do now, we would see Amanita phalloides make its first appearance, and
could follow its subsequent spread.
Clearly there are various factors which determine the presence of names on a list
– biotic factors (the species has recently arrived); abiotic factors (the weather was
favourable for the fruiting of a certain species), and many human factors (such as the
areas where people go, and the people who identify the mushrooms).
Fortunately, the MSSF website offers more than just those lists. At least for the
years 2001-2004 catalogues are available, not only listing the species which have been
identified, but also where they were found, and which species were new records.
Mycology in our part of the USA is still very much in flux so the names we apply
to species are not necessarily correct (among the plentiful examples: Leucoagaricus
rubrotinctus only grows east of the Rocky Mountains, not in California; what was called
Amanita rubescens until a few years ago was then described as a new species A. novinupta;
Daldinia grandis, King Alfred’s cakes, appears to be very rare, and most collections
under that name are now identified as Hypoxylon thouarsianum), and for many groups
adequate keys are just not available. For all these reasons, it would be great to keep
the collections from the fair, dry them and preserve them in a herbarium, so they are
Speaker for
January 17
MSSF Meeting
Leon Shernoff (center of picnic
table) ID'ing mushrooms.
Those Wacky
Eastern Mushrooms!
Our January speaker is Leon
Shernoff, who will share his fungal
passion and experiences East of the
Mississippi River. Leon became in-
terested in wild mushrooms when
he realized that they were much less
dangerous than the wild plants he’d
been eating so many of. His talk
titled, “Those Wacky East Coast
Mushrooms!” is sure to be entertain-
ing.
Scarlet puffballs...bright purple
boletes...shaggy boletes...What does
that wilderness East of the Rockies
have that we don’t have?

Page 2       The Mycena News, January, 2006
First Pt. Reyes Myco-Blitz
a Resounding Success!
David Rust
Frost covered the grassy fields along Sir Francis Drake
Boulevard as my wife and I drove out to Pt. Reyes for the first-
ever Myco-Blitz foray. “Oh no,” I thought. “We’ll be collecting
frozen mushrooms.” I kept my fingers crossed and hoped
people would be motivated to come out for a scientific-
oriented collecting foray.
It was quiet when we arrived in the parking lot, and the sun
was shining brightly. Good. Time to fire up the coffee urn, and
get the sign-up sheets laid out. Park staff brought out tables, and
helped with set up. By 9:00 a.m. cars began to arrive in
numbers. Behind the Bear Valley Visitor Center, the coffeemaker
seemed to take forever to brew, but people were assuaged by
a selection of pastries, breakfast bars, and fruit. Inside the
auditorium, people crowded around three tables of maps and
sign-up sheets, trying to get an idea of which trail to hunt. As
we struggled to give out maps, field labels, wax bags, collecting
instructions, and permits for the dashboard, more and more
people appeared.
It took little prompting to organize people to collect in 20
separate routes. By 9:30 most of the assembled crowd had
dispersed to collect fungi. The first ever Pt Reyes National
Seashore Myco-Blitz was underway.
This remarkable event attracted over 125 participants—
from the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society, the Fungus
Federation of Santa Cruz, the Sonoma County Mycological
Association, the Mycological Society of San Francisco, and
students from San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley.
Lured by the possibility of the odd Russula, Dr. Steven L.
Miller, curator of the Wilhelm Solheim Mycological Her-
barium and associate professor in the Department of Botany
at the University of Wyoming, joined the foray. Many people
new to mushrooms also attended.
At UC Berkeley on Saturday night, a team began to sort
the mountain of wax bags into an orderly starting point for
identification. Dr. Miller and the MSSF’s Norm Andresen
quickly got to work with the Russulas. We checked field labels,
and gathered around unusual specimens to “ooh” and “ahh.”
Even Limantour Beach produced fungi (the person who
collected there left some sand in the wax bag along with the
mushrooms as evidence.) Identification, photography and
vouchering lasted several days. The species list isn’t quite ready,
but the efforts of 125 people will have added many, many
species to a list maintained by Dr. Tom Bruns during his two
decades of study at Pt Reyes.
Please join us on Saturday, January 28th, for the second Myco-
Blitz Foray at Pt. Reyes.
The second Myco-Blitz foray will take place on Saturday,
January 28, 2006. Please plan to attend the first-ever Point
Reyes Fungus Fair at the Bear Valley Visitor Center on Sunday,
January 29th. Come learn about fungi, the unique habitats of
Pt. Reyes, and have a blast!
Where:
Meet at the Bear Valley Visitor Center . Point Reyes
National Seashore NP is located approximately 35 miles north
of San Francisco on Highway 1. You can also reach the park
via Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. When you reach Olema at
Highway 1, turn right. Go one block north and turn left;
following signs to the visitor center.
When:
Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. for collecting; return to
the Bear Valley Visitor Center for pre-sorting and a look at
what is brought in. The ID process will take place this time in
a classroom at the red barn by the entrance — please stay to
help with sorting and identification, and preparation for the
Sunday public display.
What to bring:
Bring mushroom collecting baskets, a tackle box (for
small specimens) digging tools or a pocket knife, water, whistle,
compass, and lunch. Dress for the weather and bring an extra
layer of clothing for warmth. Wear sturdy hiking shoes. All trails
in the park are closed to dogs – please leave yours at home for
this foray. Wax bags will be provided. Poison oak and nettles
are found along some of the trails.
Who:
Members of the Bay Area mycological societies, as well as
professional and amateur mycologists from all over the Bay
Area. Contact David Rust ([EMAIL],  510-430-
9353), Peter Werner ([EMAIL]), Ron Pastorino
([EMAIL], [PHONE]), or Darvin DeShazer
([EMAIL]) for more information.
For more information about the Point Reyes National Seashore, visit the
website: http://www.nps.gov/pore/.  For directions and a map: http:/
/www.pointreyes.org/.
Officers: 2005-2006
President: David Campbell                  [PHONE]
[EMAIL]
Vice President:  J. R. Blair                    [PHONE]
[EMAIL]
Secretary: Carol Hellums                      [PHONE]
[EMAIL]
Treasurer:  Hilary Somers                    [PHONE]
[EMAIL]

The Mycena News, January, 2006           Page 3
The Foragers’ Report
January 2006
Mushroom Talk
Patrick Hamilton
Somewhere in the Salt Point SP forest: “Look—hey,
doesn’t it seem that the rains from early  summer had a big
effect on the fruiting patterns of all these fungi?” I was saying
to my mushroom-hunting buddy while admiring so many of
them covering parts of the forest floor. Lots.
“But indirect or direct?” He replied and continued, “I
think I remember that back in 1988, didn’t we have summer
storms in late August, or early September? Whenever, and what
a year for hedgehogs. But rains as early as we had this
summer—I dunno, seems to be so long ago.”
“You may be right. It must have been an indirect effect—
or none at all? Huh? Huh.”
We continued our walk through the woods checking stuff
out, puzzling more, positing almost non-stop. “How about last
year when the matsies were so abundant, even before the cold
snap, and we tried to figure out that fruiting pattern and
compared it to the past five years or so? Could have been
caused by those rains we had in November, or maybe not.”
“You might be right. Could be. Now with that real warm
spell in beginning of December things might just pop spectacu-
larly.”
“If we get some more rain.”
“Look! Come here. Check this out:  all these black tubes
and pencil-sized baby hedgehogs. It’s gonna be a great year for
blacks and hedgehogs. Ya think?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
And once again we were narrating our hunt and entertain-
ing ourselves with mushroom talk—the sort of inane conver-
sation about the what, why, which, where, etc., that we all seem
to arrive at sometime during a fungi hike.
When we first began to learn about mushrooms, their
identification and their habitats, we were all questions and ears
(if we were smart and wanted to be invited back). As we
accumulated knowledge a lot of us stopped asking so many
questions and started to offer info. Sagacious mentors listened
and responded with some of their own stuff. And there it
was—”mushroom talk.”
Speaking of same: the “signs” (these are keys gathered
from years of Bois Babble by experienced pickers) show that
matsutakes appear to be finishing already in the north part of
our area. In Cazadero a hunter pulled over 75 pounds out of
her patch the week of December 16 but left many “flags”
(large, browning gills, overly-opened matsies). Half dollar-
sized hedgehogs are showing, as are some blacks.
In Napa Valley matsutakes, white chanterelles, queen and
butter boletes are being picked in mixed forests. At the Pt.
Reyes fungal survey lots of non-edibles were gathered by
people who usually only search for the pot. That was a good
time and great for learning more mushroom stuff (to add to
the talk).
Many butter boletes are being found under madrone in
Lake County and, if that is any indication, we should have a fine
blewitt year. This day’s (12/18) warmth after the storm of the
weekend will certainly bring lots and lots of fungi in the next
weeks. Mushroom talk.
Who knows what the upcoming mid and late winter
seasons will show us. We all can guess and it is fun trying to
figure it out. And we can sure talk about it.
More fun can be had by those of you who wish to create
a couple of wintry comfort dishes. Check out these twists on
classics.
Coquilles St. Jacques with Black Chanterelles
Serving Size: 8 Preparation Time: 1 hour
¼ cup bread crumbs, fresh from baguette
1/4 cup (1/2 oz) Parmigiano-reggiano, finely grated
1¼ cup dry white wine
1 cup water
½ onion, small, sliced
½ bay leaf
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper, freshly ground (always)
1 lb sea scallops, tough muscle removed, cut 3/4" pieces
½ lb black chanterelles,  chopped small
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk, large
1 Tbsp AP flour
8 cups Kosher salt
1½ Tbsp Italian parsley, minced
Oven 350 degrees F.
1.  Toast crumbs until pale golden, 6-8 mins, toss with cheese.
2.  Simmer wine, water, onion, bay leaf, salt, and pepper in 2-
3 qt pan, uncovered for 5 mins. Add scallops and simmer,
uncovered, stirring occasionally, until just cooked—2 to 3 mins.
Transfer scallops to a platter with slotted spoon to cool,
returning any onions to pan, reduce to 1 cup. Strain into bowl.
3.  Cook mushrooms in 2 Tbsp of butter for 5 minutes. Season.
                        Continued on page 6

Page 4       The Mycena News, January, 2006
MycoDigest                             Continued from page 1
available later for morphological and molecular examination.
In fact, herbaria exist for this purpose and people can still study
the actual mushrooms that were collected by our distinguished
mycological forebears back to the nineteenth century. For the
fairs the time to do this, and the space to preserve the
collections, are both in short supply, with the result that this has
seldom been done. Only a few, rare or exceptional species have
been conserved, depending on the interests of the people
present.
The Point Reyes Mycoblitz, held this December 10, tried
to fill some of the gaps. Organized by Prof. Bruns with the co-
operation of the National Park Service, this event focused on
one area only, and covered as many different habitats as
possible from the dunes bordering Limantour beach to the
pine clad top of Mount Vision, and south to the ridge just west
of the San Andreas Fault. In all, around 200 collections were
dried and will be preserved in the herbarium of UC-Berkeley
along with photographs and much descriptive information.
Many more collections were made but duplicates and the ones
already collected from the area were discarded. Among the
highlights were Amanita porphyria and an orange crust-forming
polypore that has kept us intrigued (we are still working on its
name). The mycoblitz will be repeated at the end of January for
a second snapshot of the fungal diversity (look for details in the
calendar section), and in the next few years.
Of course, the purpose of the mycoblitzes is to assess
diversity systematically in one particular area, albeit a large one,
while the focus at the fungus fairs is on showing fungi to the
general public. Also, the participants of the mycoblitz diligently
filled out the field labels with information on location, habitat,
and substrate. This is hardly done for the fungus fair.
Since 1997 NAMA, the North American Mycological
Association, has kept good records of the species found during
its annual forays. Collections of each species – known as
vouchers – are photographed and kept in the Field Museum in
Chicago. The data are entered into a database, which you can
find on-line (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/nama/). Although
the number of forays is still small, the sites are distributed over
the country and the data are now easily accessible.
Naturally there is overlap in the species fruiting every year
at the time of the fair, but in general there is huge variation in
the lists. Only a few species at the fungus fairs are found in many
locations. This phenomenon is very common in any inventory,
whether it covers a whole country or just a small area; there are
a few dominant species, found all the time and everywhere, and
a huge number of species recorded only once or in one spot.
The abundant ones at the Point Reyes Mycoblitz were mem-
bers of the Gymnopus dryophilus  group, which showed up
everywhere (and also appeared a day later in several foray sites
for the Yuba Watershed Institute event in North Columbia),
and Inocybe sororia which you seemed to see whenever you put
your basket down.
The absence of mushrooms (the fruitbodies) does not
necessarily mean that the species is absent, but when we find the
fruitbody we have foolproof evidence that the species is there.
Other than conks, most fruitbodies have a very restricted
lifespan, ranging from a few hours for fragile inky caps to
perhaps a month or two for Sarcoscypha and other fleshy
ascomycetes. To be in the right spot at the right time is a
challenge, as every bolete hunter knows. We would like to
know the size of the individual organism (the number of
fruitbodies is no indication of the size of the below-ground
part – many small apple trees can produce as many apples, as
one old big trees) and its age. For both these aspects of fungal
life we know very little, and that only for a few species in a few
settings.
A meticulous Swiss study was set up to monitor the
mycoflora in one forest. For 21 years, every week from May
to December, the same protected plots were visited, and all
fruitbodies were counted and identified to species. Individual
fruitbodies were painted to avoid double counting. During all
those years around 400 species were found, but only eight
showed up consistently every year. Up to the end, the list was
still growing with new species.
Since 1980 a mammoth recording project in the Nether-
lands has collected around 1.4 million meticulously identified
and thoroughly documented records. Provided they meet its
standards all collections are welcomed, whether they come
from forays and mushroom weekends, systematic plot studies
or are accidental finds. Even data from herbaria and the
mycological literature have been incorporated into the data-
base – the oldest record is from 1808. Each year new species
are still added. With a totally different approach than the Swiss
study, this project has produced distribution and temporal data
on a national scale.
The big question is of course; how long and how
intensively do we have to inventory mushrooms in a certain
area to get a complete list of the species present? Are fruitbody
inventories the best way to seek an answer, or are there other,
molecularly-based methods which are more appropriate?
Today, it is indeed possible to do a large-scale sequencing
project – just sample soil, grind it up, extract DNA out of the
mess, and sequence every tiny bit. Then you compare the
sequences with those in databases. When this was done in two
plots in Duke Forest (NC), 412 sequence types for fungi were
found. This is quite impressive, especially when compared with
the outcome from the long-term and intensive Swiss study.
This approach does have its limitations; not all species will have
sufficient DNA and not all will do well with standard methods,
while the current databases are underpopulated and of uncer-
tain reliability. After all, putting a name on a sequence can only
be done when someone has already identified it (correctly!) and
provided a sequence for comparison. There is discussion about
the feasibility of molecular “bar-codes” but, for the moment,
the process still rests on traditional taxonomy, a skill slowly
acquired.

The Mycena News, January, 2006           Page 5
Of course, another limitation of the molecular approach
is that it does not say anything about fruiting patterns. Fruiting
is important as an indication of the state of the environment.
When forests which are naturally low in nitrogen get more and
more of it, because of human activities, the trees eventually
reduce the amount of carbohydrates they pass on to the
ectomycorrhizal fungi, and this may prevent them from form-
ing fruitbodies. In other words, changes in the environment
change what we see above ground. Also, there will be a change
in species composition, but that will also show up in studies of
the underground world.
Similar studies to the Duke Forest inventory have been
done for ectomycorrhizal fungi in one forest in the southern
Sierra Nevada by sampling root tips which were ectomycorrhizal
(i.e. they are covered by a fungal mantle), and comparing the
sequences from those root tips with fruitbody sequences.
There, 100 species were found, all growing with Abies sp., and
one fifth of the species form hypogeous fruitbodies which are
hard to find, when you just walk through and do not rake. So
here we see a clear advantage of the molecular method. It
should also be kept in mind that these dry forests do not
produce fruitbodies on a regular basis.
All these data are extremely valuable, whether they have
been collected by accidental encounters with fruitbodies, or
systematic inventories of all substrates and careful matching of
DNA sequences. They reveal the fungal diversity at a certain
time and a certain place. Changes can be tracked with these data
as reference. Distribution data can be inferred, management
measures can be tracked by inventorying at a later date etc. etc.
The data even gain value when they are easily accessible to
others; here the NAMA data base, as a national project, sets a
great example.
The data from the Swiss studies have been used for
comparison with data collected in a similar way from nitrogen
enriched plots, and from plots where the mushrooms were
systematically picked. To reassure everybody, the conclusion is
that even such picking does not influence in any way the
formation of fruitbodies through the years. Trampling the
forest floor, on the other hand, does have a negative effect on
the fruiting. But, when the area is fenced off to keep people out,
next year the mushrooms fruit normally again. The Dutch data
have clearly shown human effects on a larger scale, notably that
many ectomycorrhizal species have declined dramatically, due
to nitrogen and acid deposition, and that, by contrast, many
wood chip fungi have appeared and are flourishing.
So, give your mushrooming that extra value by recording
and keeping specimens, by participating in mycoblitzes, collect-
ing for the fair, and going to national forays!
Some further reading:
Egli, S., M. Peter, C. Buser, W. Stahl & F. Ayer, early-on-line,
2005. Mushroom picking does not impair future harvests –
results of a long-term study in Switzerland. Biological Conserva-
tion.
Izzo, A., M. Meyer, J.M. Trappe, M. North & T.D. Bruns,
2005. Hypogeous ectomycorrhizal fungal species on roots and
in small mammal diet in a mixed-conifer forest. Forestry science
51: 243-254.
Mueller, G.M., G.F. Bills & M.S. Foster (eds), 2004. Biodiversity
of Fungi.
O’Brien, H., J.L. Parrent, J.A. Jackson, J.-M. Moncalvo & R.
Vilgalys, 2005. Fungal community analysis by large-scale se-
quencing of environmental samples. Applied and Environ-
mental Microbiology 71: 5544-5550.
Straatsma, G., F. Ayer & S. Egli, 2001. Species richness,
abundance, and phenology of fungal fruit bodies over 21 years
in a Swiss forest plot. Mycological Research 105: 515-523.
For Easterners, the land West of the Rockies is the fabled
land of truckfuls of edibles: burn morels, moutainsides of
porcinis, forests full of matsutake. The West has huge quantities
of edibles because the trees that they grow with dominate their
ecosystems, resulting in miles and miles of forest with just a few
kinds of trees in them. When a mushroom associated with these
trees fruits, it may do so in great quantity.
The eastern hardwood and mixed forests, on the other
hand, have a much higher diversity of tree species. This, in turn,
translates to a much higher diversity of mycorrhizal fungi. The
East has as many different species of boletes as it does Russulas,
as well as Amanitas that have lost their mycorrhizal lifestyle for
an existence on the prairie, and even a few choice edibles not
found on the West Coast!
Leon is currently President of the Illinois Mycological
Association and editor of Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushroom-
ing. His work includes being responsible for: reprints for the
The Origins of Symbiosis; an online Dictionary of Mycological
Terms; an extensive Myco-etymological Dictionary; and nu-
merous clever articles in Mushroom, the Journal. Leon has been a
guest speaker and mycologist at forays from Oregon to
Boston and currently concentrates his time on “printed forays”
in the Journal.
For more information about Leon Shernoff, the work
described above, and Mushroom, the Journal , check out
ww.mushroomthejournal.com.
January Speaker                                 Continued from page 1

Page 6       The Mycena News, January, 2006
4.  Whisk cream and yolk. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a pan and
add flour and cook the roux 2 mins. Break the roux with
reduced liquid, heat and simmer 1 min. Remove from heat and
season.
5.  Heat broiler. Stir scallops and mushrooms into sauce, divide
among scallop shells (if using—nestle shells in Kosher salt in
pan) or ramekins and sprinkle with crumb mix.  Dot with
butter and broil 4" from heat until golden. Garnish with
parsley.
       Excellent with a dry sparkling wine, a fireplace glowing,
and a very close friend.
        Try this other yummy shellfish dish too with your soon
to be fine stash (ah, mushroom talk) of black chanterelles.
Oyster Soup with Black Chanterelles and Chardonnay
Serving Size: 4  Preparation Time:  45 minutes
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1½ Tbsp minced shallots
½ cup black chanterelles, chopped small
¼ cup chardonnay, un-oaked (or just barely)
12 oysters, Pacific, shucked (freshly jarred okay)
1 tsp sea salt dissolved in ½ cup water
¼ cup crème fraiche
1½ tsp chives, minced
1½ tsp tarragon, minced
½ tsp white pepper
      Melt butter and heat until foamy, add shallots and mush-
rooms and cook five minutes over medium. Add wine and
cook for 1 minute. Add oysters and their liquor and the salt
water mixture. When tiny bubbles form around the edge of the
pan, stir in the crème fraiche, chive, tarragon, and pepper. Cook
about 1-2 minutes.
       Serve with an herb and cheesy garlic bread and a minerally,
acidic, and fruity Chardonnay—like a real Chablis (Raveneau
would work).
That’s all for now folks!
Foragers' Report                      Continued from page 3
Mycena News is the newsletter of the Mycological
Society of San Francisco and is published monthly from
September through May. Please email newsletter submis-
sions to: [EMAIL].
  Editor: William Karpowicz
  Layout: Ruth Erznoznik
  Printing/Mailing: Mother Lode Printing, Jackson, CA
A Very Special Place
Else  Vellinga
Inhabitants of the golden state have always known that
California is different from the rest of the country, but the
surprising news from some recent studies is that this is also true
for many of its organisms. The Californian ravens are different
from all other ravens, though by just looking at them you
would never be able to tell. The differences are in their genetic
make-up, especially in the mitochondrial genome. A fungal
example is Splitgill, Schizophyllum commune , whose specimens
from the west of the USA are similar to those in Europe, and
different from all other North Americans. Again, these findings
are based on sequence data; all splitgills look alike and when put
together on a petri dish they interbreed, regardless of their
origin.
More striking is that our west coast Matsutakes are not like
any other matsutake; the Californian branch differs from the
main three groups, one in Mexico, one in North Africa and one
ranging from the eastern USA to Japan. A similar pattern is
emerging for two Amanita species.
Californian Amanita pantherina is quite different from speci-
mens bearing the same name from Europe, Nepal and Japan.
Whether they are also different from the east-coast denizens is
not known, as no samples from this region were included in the
recent study by Oda and co-workers. However, these re-
searchers made a wider sampling of Amanita muscaria, and all
American specimens differed from those in Eurasia. Further-
more, the west coast and east coast representatives clustered in
two separate groups, regardless of their colours. And for now
there does not seem any correlation between morphology and
molecular characters. That means, that recognition of the
different types in the field is not possible, and that we have to
do DNA analyses to figure out which one we have in hand. In
Alaska, for example, Eurasian, American and high-latitude
forms co-exist.
All kinds of question spring to mind but so far have no
answers: what is happening in the Rocky Mountains and
northern boreal regions where eastern and western popula-
tions may meet; what is the history of these patterns – do the
different fungal groups have the same background and did
they take the same routes to California? Can there be one
mechanism to explain crows and mushrooms? Do these
patterns hold up when data from other regions are included?
Do the same patterns occur in saprotrophic species, and can we
still discern the natural patterns from present-day distributions?
With molecular markers the origins of populations which
were introduced to the Southern Hemisphere can be revealed.
Amanita muscaria is new to New Zealand, and the one New
Zealand Fly agaric in the Oda study groups with the Japanese
specimens. Is there only one type of Amanita muscaria here in
California, and do the individuals growing with different host
                                              Continued on page 8

The Mycena News, January, 2006           Page 7
Freedom Song
Bob & Barbara Sommer
We are here at Salt Point, the only state park in the area
where mushroom collecting is permitted. We are legal! Legal!
What a treat to be able to pick openly— to park at the trailhead,
wear conspicuous clothing, follow a marked path rather than
skulking through the underbrush, carry an open basket, and not
try to avoid other people, especially the park ranger. We didn’t
bring our baskets on this excursion; it has been so long since we
picked legally that baskets are no longer on our trip list.
Occasionally we see beautiful African wicker baskets for sale in
craft shops, but there is no point in buying them in view of the
scant usage they’d receive. We bring baskets to organized
forays, but not on independent excursions like this to nearby
woods where we operate as undercover mycophiles, a sleeper cell
activated each year by rain.
Our collection book, listing species found by location, is
a record of criminal activity. Most sites mentioned are parks,
reserves, lumber company land, trails in private developments,
and lawns around public buildings. Although stopped by
authorities multiple times, we have never been arrested. We are
a successful criminal conspiracy; some day we may be pros-
ecuted under RICO. At Salt Point, we feel like career criminals
working their first honest jobs. We are likely to revert to type
in the future (recidivism is high among mushroomers) but for
the moment it feels good to be law-abiding citizens.
Illegal foraging is a downside of Northern California
mushrooming. We don’t refer to the massive harvests of
professional pickers selling to upscale San Francisco restaurants
and the export market. Rather we mean illegal foraging by us,
the good guys, the informed amateurs, members of mush-
room clubs and independents who appreciate the beauty and
ecological significance of fungi. We are not proud that our
hobby encourages us to violate the law.
Things were not always like this. When we became
interested in fungi 30 years ago, we could pick almost any-
where. Amateur mycology was considered a type of nature
study, like birdwatching or flower appreciation. People seeing
us in the woods couldn’t decide whether we were suicidal,
homicidal, or just odd. Mushroom picking may not have been
technically legal but it wasn’t explicitly illegal. Park rules against
disturbing fauna and flora (we rationalized that mushrooms
were neither) weren’t strictly enforced so long as we were
discreet. Nature purists (leave no tern unstoned) did not notice
us.
This was before commercial pickers entered the picture—
folks who heard there was money to be made harvesting wild
mushrooms on public land. Seasonal workers such as loggers,
fishers, and construction workers found this to be a lucrative
and pleasant way to supplement unemployment insurance
during the rainy months. For recent immigrants, foraging was
a money-earning opportunity that didn’t require language
fluency. We are not criticizing any of these folks; they have as
much right as we do to use public land. Yet the increased
activity and visibility of mushroom picking brought calls for
regulation. It didn’t help that budget-strapped parks agencies
were looking for new revenue sources.
The result was criminalization of what had previously
been a quaint form of nature study or a cultural tradition.
Slinking, sneaking, and skulking have become became a modus
operandi. That was why it is so satisfying to collect legally. True,
Salt Point has become the gathering place for mushroom clubs
all over Northern California. There are obvious signs of
mushroom activity— white russulas kicked over in the search
for matsutakes, cut and discarded hygrophoropsis. The close-
in trails are picked over in terms of the most desirable edibles,
but if you know your mushrooms, there are less popular but
still tasty varieties such as honeys, candy caps, and dentinum. In
addition, the forest floor is carpeted with other fungi to admire.
We carefully wrapped a few unfamiliar specimens to carry
back to the motel for spore prints, ID, and sketches.
Jean Paul Sartre declared that he never felt more free than
under Nazi occupation, when he published a clandestine
newspaper. We are clandestine mushroomers but this doesn’t
give us feelings of freedom. Only when we pick legally are we
truly free. Liberty is not synonymous with anarchy but with the
legal exercise of individual rights within a societal context.
Coming to Salt Point reminds us of what is missing when we
move about like rodents hiding in the shadows to avoid notice.
It is good to celebrate freedom, not our success in evading the
authorities. We are not happy with the segregation and token-
ism (one state park in the entire region) but this beats total
prohibition.
Calendar                                               Continued from page 10
Saturday February 4 Salt Point Foray: Meet at the Woodside
parking lot at 10:00 am There will be a $4.00 parking fee. We
will go looking for Yellow-foot Chanterelles, Black Trumpets,
Hedgehogs, and others. We will share a potluck lunch at 1:00
near the parking area. Some of us will be spending the night at
the park. For information contact one of the leaders: Darren
Murphey [EMAIL] or Mark Lockaby
[EMAIL] [PHONE]
Monday, February 6: Culinary Group monthly dinner.
Reservations required. 7 PM at the Hall of Flowers, Golden
Gate Park,  San Francisco. For reservations call Pat George at
[PHONE] or email [EMAIL] no later than
Friday, February 3rd.
Tuesday, February 21: Mushroom Program for Begin-
ners. S lide photos will be shown in the auditorium of the
Randall Museum starting at 6:45 p.m., preceding the General
Meeting and will run about 45 minutes. The February program
will be Gilled Mushrooms II: White Spored and will discuss
Armillaria, Mycena, Flammulina, Collybia, Marasmius,
Clitocybe, Laccaria, and Pleurotus among others.

Page 8       The Mycena News, January, 2006
Upcoming
Beginners’ Forays
January 8, 2006. SF Watershed property adjacent to
the Phleger Estate.  Park at the western end of Edgewood
Road which ramps off Route 280 just past Hillsborough. 10:00
AM to Noon. By reservation only. Limited to 25 participants.
May be wet underfoot. Heavy rain cancels. This is a study rather
than a collecting hike. Avoid the rush, call Bill Freedman early
at [PHONE] or [EMAIL].
January 14, 2006. Mills Canyon Foray. Hit the phone
or your e-mail factory. Expert JR Blair, Lecturer with the
Mycology Division at the University of SF, will lead this
popular fact-filled study designed for beginners down in Mills
Canyon, Burlingame on Saturday, January 14. Because of over
attendance in the past, this outing will be by reservation only,
limited to 25 guests of the Friends of Mills Canyon. We meet
at the Adeline Drive entrance at 10:00 am. Heavy rain cancels.
Wear durable shoes, the trail could be wet in spots. The trail is
a 1-3/4 mile loop with minimal elevation. We usually finish
about 12:30 PM. From Route 280 going south, take the
Trousdale Ave. ramp. Turn right onto Skyline Boulevard to
Hillcrest Ave. and left down to Adeline Drive, the second
arterial stop. Parking is on the left of Adeline. For reservation
please contact Bill Freedman at [EMAIL] or 650-
344-7774. Please indicate the number of your party.
Slide Photo Programs
for Beginners
Tom Sasaki
This is an invitation to beginners and new members,
especially those who may have joined MSSF during the Annual
Fungus Fair, to join our program preceding the General
Meeting in January, February and March. These slide photo
programs are a continuation of the ones started last year on the
identification and classification of mushrooms. The programs
were produced by the North American Mycological Associa-
tion (NAMA).
In January, our program will be Gilled Mushrooms I:
White Spored. It will include the Amanita, Lepiota,
Hygrophorous and the Russula families. In February, it will be
Gilled Mushrooms II: White Spored and will discuss Armillaria,
Mycena, Flammulina, Collybia, Marasmius, Clitocybe, Laccaria,
and Pleurotus among others. In March, we will feature Gilled
Mushrooms IV: Purple-Brown to Black Spores. Photos will be
of Agaricus, Stropharia,Psilocybe, Coprinus, Panaeolus,
Chroogomphus and more. Gilled Mushrooms III: Pink to
Brown Spored may be shown at some later date.
trees have the same ITS and beta-tubulins (the markers used in
this particular study)?
Whatever the answers to these questions, the California
mycoflora is definitely different from that in the rest of the
world, and studying and conserving it are great challenges!
Background reading:
Chapela, I.H. & M. Garbelotto, 2004. Phylogeography and
evolution in matsutake and close allies inferred by analyses
of ITS sequences and AFLPs. Mycologia 96: 730-741.
James, T.Y., J.-M. Moncalvo, S. Li & R. Vilgalys, 2001.
Polymorphism at the ribosomal DNA spacers and its
relation to breeding structure of the widespread mush-
room Schizophyllum commune. Genetics 157: 149-161.
Oda, T., C. Tanaka & M. Tsuda, 2004. Molecular phylogeny
and biogeography of the widely distributed Amanita spe-
cies, A. muscaria  and A. pantherina. Mycological Research
108: 885-896.
Omland, K.E., C.L. Tarr, W.I. Boarman, J.M. Marzluff & R.C.
Fleischer, 2000. Cryptic genetic variation and paraphyly in
ravens. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B.
267: 2475-2482.
Special Place                             Continued from page 6
MSSF Discussion Group
on Yahoo Groups
The MSSF email discussion group facilitated through Ya-
hoo Groups is a great way to keep in contact with other
members and is one of the primary ways in which members
keep up on news about the Society. The list features often-
intriguing discussion of fungal-related topics, tips about
current fungal activity, and up-to-the-minute news about
MSSF functions.
The list is available in both individual-message and digest
formats. Additionally, you can also subscribe to the group
in “Special Notices” mode. That means that if you wish to
receive only official announcements from the society and
not email traffic from other members, you can subscribe
using this method. (Subscribers to the list in regular and
digest formats also, of course, receive official announce-
ments in addition to posts from other members.)
To sign up, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mssf/
Follow the link that says “Join This Group”. (You will need
to sign up for a free Yahoo Groups membership if you do
not have one already.)

The Mycena News, January, 2006           Page 9
MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SAN FRANCISCO - Membership and Membership Renewal Application
New Members please fill out as much information as you can.  Members who are renewing need to fill out only the blanks for whic h information has
changed within the last year.  Please check the current Roster to see if any of your address, phone, and email need updating!
Name 1:_______________________ Ho me Phone: _______________________________
Name 2:______________________ Business Phone: ____________________________
Street/Apt#/PO:______________________ Ce ll Phone:______________________________
City:____________________ Email 1:____________________________
State:____________________ Em ail 2:____________________________
Zip Code:____________________
Interests:______________________________________
New Membership?_____ Renewal?_____
Membership type: ____Adult/Family ($25) ____ Senior/Students ($20) ____ Electronic ($15)
If sending a check, please make it out to "MSSF membership" and mail it, with this form to: MSSF Membership, c/o The Randall Ju nior Museum,
199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA  94114
If paying by Credit Card, please provide the following information:
Circle Type of Credit Card: MasterCard, Visa, Discovery, or American Express
Membership Corner
Polly Shaw
“Th-Th-Th-That’s all, folks!”
Time is about up to renew your membership for 2006,
without missing a beat on the newsletters and listserv access.
Our 2005 memberships expired December 31, and we’re
about to change the password. (The mailing label on your
Mycena News says when your membership expires.) But if you’d
like to come along on more fun events, read on!
Fill out the information on the reverse side. Mail a check
for the appropriate amount (made out to “MSSF”) to “MSSF
Membership” c/o the Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way,
San Francisco, CA 94114. Or, to save postage, you can give the
envelope with the filled out form and check to Polly Shaw at
the monthly meeting or culinary dinner.
You can also renew online by using the PayPal option on
the MSSF website. If you do, please send Polly Shaw a personal
email (at [EMAIL] or [PHONE]) with the
information on the reverse of this column. Paypal provides
only the name, mailing address, and email of those who enroll
or renew. It does not give secondary members, telephone
numbers, an alternate email address, or interests.
The regular, adult/family membership fee is $25. Seniors
over 65 and full-time students pay $20. E-members pay $15 to
download the Mycena News and other publications from the
website.
The MSSF treats membership information as private, but
it does VERY occasionally release its membership list for
mailings by mycological businesses. If you do not want your
info published, either contact the membership chair or indicate
on your renewal that you do not want to receive commercial
mailings.

MSSF Calendar, January, 2006
Mycological Society of San Francisco
c/o The Randall Museum
199 Museum Way
San Francisco, CA 94114
January, 2006, vol 57:01
First Class Mail
U.S. Postage
PAID
Jackson, CA
Permit No 29
Note: Deadline for the January 2006 issue of  Mycena News is January 20.
Please send your articles, calendar items and other information to:
[EMAIL]
 Continued on page  7
Monday, January 9: (note change of date!) Culinary Group
monthly dinner. Reservations required. 7 PM at the Hall of
Flowers, 9th and Lincoln, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
For reservations call Pat George at [PHONE] or email
[EMAIL] no later than Friday, January 6th.
Saturday, January 14 Mushrooms 101.  Presented by Bob
Mackler at Muir Woods. 10 am. Call Muir Woods (415-388-
2596) for reservations. Adults only. $4.00 park entrance fee.
Friday-Monday, Janury 14-16. SOMA Winter Mushroom
Camp. Special guests this year include Paul Stamets, well
known author and fungal pioneer; Leon Shernoff, editor of
Mushroom, the Journal  and Dr. Michael Kuo from
MushroomExpert.com. $195 until Nov. 15, $225 after. Reg-
istration closes on Wed. January 4. Includes lodging, meals, and
all classes & activities. Sunday only fee: $110, includes all the
day’s activities & presentations, and main dinner feast. Info:
[PHONE] or [EMAIL].
Tuesday, January 17: Mushroom Program for Beginners.
Slide photos will be shown in the auditorium of the Randall
Museum starting at 6:45 p.m., preceding the General Meeting
and will run about 45 minutes. The January program will be
Gilled Mushrooms I: White Spored and will include the
Amanita, Lepiota, Hygrophorous and the Russula families.
Tuesday, January 17: MSSF General Meeting. Randall
Museum. NAMA photo slide show for beginners at 6:45 pm
with Amanita, Lepiota, Hygrophorous and Russula families.
Mushroom identification at 7:00 pm. Leon Shernoff will
discuss East Coast mushrooms at 8 pm.
Saturday, January 28. Point Reyes Foray.  Led by Tom
Bruns with David Rust, Peter Werner, Darvin Deshazer and
Ron Pastorino. See inside this issue for more details.