0602mn

Mycena News
The Mycological Society of  San Francisco  February, 2006, vol 57:02
CONTENTS
February Meeting.........................................1
MycoDigest: Mighty Mites.........................1
Flower and Garden Show............................2
Foragers' Report..........................................3
Pignics and Pussycats..................................4
Cultivation Corner.......................................5
Tom Sasaki Honorary Member................7
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 2
MycoDigest: Mighty Mites and
Nifty Mushrooms
Else Vellinga
Those plants with seeds that stick to our cat’s fur have really come up with a nice
way to get their offspring to new places. It works well for all fur bearing mammals
and those naked ones who wear clothes. Some mushrooms have come up with the
same brilliant idea: make spores that stick to hairs, and let an animal disperse them.
Consider Tomentella sublilacina. This fungus forms fuzzy grey-purple crusts on the
underside of pine branches lying on the forest floor. It is extremely common in the
coastal Bishop pine forests of Point Reyes and Salt Point where it is one of the
dominant ectomycorrhizal species. After 
the 1995 Mount Vision fire it immediately
colonized the newly germinated Bishop pine seedlings. However, it is not restricted
to coastal California. It can be found on a wide range of host trees, and has been
recorded all through North America, and in Eurasia from the Atlantic Ocean to
Kamchatka and from the Caucasus to the northern Ural.
There is not much breeze close to the forest floor, so relying on wind to disperse
its spores wouldn’t get Tomentella far. How then is it possible for such a species to
be so widely distributed?
The answer depends on the little creeping, crawling, racing animals, of which
forests and their soils are full. To prepare for their ride the spores of this and all other
Tomentellas have developed irregular shapes with knobs and spines. For protection
on the way, they are thick-walled and pigmented.
These spores adhere particularly well to the hairs of Oribatid mites (a group of mites
especially species-rich in woody settings). The mites walk over the Tomentella and,
acting like little lawn mowers, eat spores and hyphae as they go. Inside and out they
become covered in spores. The mites being small do not get far; they certainly do not
disperse the spores from one continent to another. However, they get eaten, and other
critters like millipedes, centipedes, salamanders, and beetles acquire the spores at
second hand. The nice touch is that the Tomentella spores are pretty good at surviving
the passage through two digestive systems and a reasonable percentage remains
viable. An experiment with millipede frass on young pine seedlings resulted in
ectomycorhization of the growing roots, though it developed slowly. This showed
that these spores are good at surviving hostile environments, like stomachs, and soils
on fire.
That mites are good at transporting propagules has been shown in lichens as well.
Lichens of course demand more because they consist of two organisms, a fungus, and
an alga (or a blue-green alga, or both). Mites which graze on the yellow wall lichen,
Xanthoria parietina, digest bits of the fungus and of the alga, both of which are still able
February 21
MSSF Meeting
For our February general meet-
ing, MSSF photographers will com-
pete in a showing of their best im-
ages. This unusual meeting format
should be a delight for all, as we get
to see some of the best photograhers
in the Society showcase their stuff.
 The best photo, as decided by a
team of knowledgeable judges and
audience participation, will garner
the photographer a nominal prize and
his or her picture will be published in
the March Mycena News.
The meeting will be held as
usual at the Randall Museum on
Tuesday, February 21st.  Doors open
at 7:00; meeting starts at 8:00.

Page 2       The Mycena News, February, 2006
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]
MycoDigest                             Continued from page 1
to germinate after passage throughout the mite’s intestinal tract.
This of course is of great advantage to the lichen, as the two
constituents of the organism are close when they are ready to
commence a new life together.
Other studies have focused on the oribatid mites them-
selves and what they do. They are everywhere in the soil. So
many species, with so many individuals, exist in one habitat, that
there must be some kind of differentiation in food, micro-
habitat, or life cycle. In one German forest 120 species were
encountered, with densities up to 400,000 individuals per
square meter! Some mites are litter feeders, but others specialize
on fungi. Do these species indiscriminately eat any kind of
fungus, or do they have preferences? To figure this out, several
different mites were presented with a choice of fungi served up
as little disks of mycelium (the vegetative part of the mush-
room, which is underground and not visible to the naked eye).
Only a few species of mites were used in this experiment, but
they had strikingly different tastes; Boletus badius was eaten more
than the other species offered, but one species of mite pre-
ferred the ericoid mycorrhizal species Hymenoscyphus ericae while
Agrocybe species, Paxillus involutus and Amanita muscaria were
shunned completely by another of the mite species. However,
problems with equalizing mite motivation and appetite for the
fungal feasts, cloud these results.
In the case of Tomentella, the fungivores serve the fungus by
dispersing its spores. But in general, fungi not unreasonably put
up defenses against being eaten. Fruitbodies (the mushrooms)
are ephemeral. The long-lived part of a fungus which must be
preserved consists of its underground hyphae, which can be
covered in calcium oxalate crystals, the way walls are covered
in barbed wire and broken glass. In the fruitbodies themselves,
crystals on cystidia may just be a remnant or by-product of this
or a similar hyphal defense mechanism. Thick cell walls, though
desirable for resisting digestion, can decrease palatability as can
acrid or bitter substances within cells.
So far we have taken a fungal perspective. Our examples
have indicated the influence these little animals have on fungi,
on fungal composition and their functioning in nature. But the
opposite is also true – the composition of the soil fauna is
determined by the presence of fungi. So far, only a few of the
intricate mutual relationships between mushrooms and soil-
dwelling creatures have been unraveled, but it is clear that we
have only got a glimpse into terra firma, the black box on which
we all stand.
For further reading and some nice pictures check out the
following papers:
Lilleskov, E.A. & T.D. Bruns, 2005. Spore dispersal of a
resupinate ectomycorrhizal fungus, Tomentella sublilacina, via
soil food webs. Mycologia 97: 762-769.
Meier, F.A., S. Scherrer & R. Honegger, 2002. Faecal pellets of
lichenivorous mites contain viable cells of the lichen-form-
ing ascomycete Xanthoria parietina  and its green algal
photobiont, Trebouxia arboricola. Biol. J. linn. Soc. 76: 259-
268.
Schneider, K., C. Renker, M. Maraun, 2005. Oribatid mite
(Acari, Oribatida) feeding on ectomycorrhizal fungi. Myc-
orrhiza 16: 67-72.
San Francisco
Flower and Garden Show
Ken Litchfield
The Cultivation Committee of the MSSF will again be
sponsoring a Mushroom Garden display at the San Francisco
Flower and Garden Show in the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
Last year we had a “Beneficial Mushrooms in Your Garden”
theme displayed on the main floor for the first time where we
competed with professional landscapers and received a 2
nd
place silver medal. This year we’ll try for the gold with the
theme of “A Hobbit Child’s Mushroomscape.” It will be the
sort of garden that kids could imagine themselves playing and
gardening in as if they were in one of the Hobbit movies. There
will be a kid sized, Hobbit sized, grass roofed Hobbit house
with lots of mushrooms, wild collected and cultivated, around
the winter garden.
The show will be open to the public from Wednesday
March 15 through Sunday March 19. Set up begins the previous
Friday, March 10
th with finishing touches by Tuesday morning
and judging on Tuesday afternoon. Takedown is on Sunday
with finish by Tuesday morn March 21.
If you would like to participate we will need volunteers in
several areas: to staff the exhibit three shifts per day during the
show to talk to the public about mushrooms, cultivation, and
the society, to help set up and take down on the days before and
after the show, and the creative design and building work
leading up to the setup time.
If you would like to participate please contact me.
Ken Litchfield
[EMAIL]
[PHONE]

The Mycena News, February, 2006           Page 3
                        Continued on page 8
The Foragers’ Report
February 2006
Patrick Hamilton
The latest storm seems to have just passed over here in the
middle of Sonoma County. Sun is shining still low in the January
18 sky but my spirits are up because I think I’ll take a little drive
to that place by the coast where dreams are made. Or realized,
or something like that.
Wondrous Salt Point State Park—home of some of the
best black chanterelles in the world. This is according to Connie
Green, owner of Wine Forest Mushrooms of Napa, and an
authority on edible mushrooms from all over the world. She
buys them from Northern California, Oregon, Canada, Bul-
garia, France and many other locales too. She sees thousands
each week (she is shipping two loads of blacks, 250 kilos apiece,
to Paris today) and has stated that our local blacks are the very
best! Hooray for them. Hooray for us. Hooray for me—I’m
on my way.
Oh wait, oh gee, another rainstorm is here, right now.
Haven’t even loaded my truck with plastic collecting bags and
rain gear. Big one. Oh my—it’s dumping. Where’s all this water
going to go? I don’t care because picking blacks in the rain is
part of the deal.
Fierce rain and sweet sunshine alternating on Highway 1
during my drive north. What vistas! Big Sur? How about here,
sir?
I stopped at a pullout where no mushroom picker had
pulled before. Not lately anyhow. Looked like the Memphis
Horns right by the forest edge. Maybe ten black trumpets
tooting their stuff all in a row. Thanks little buddies. I think I’ll
go in here.
Fog moving in. Compass in pocket. All right, let’s go, me.
Gosh, forgot my reading glasses and can’t see the compass.
Hope I don’t get turned around and walk stupidly stumbly
towards where I think the truck is but is not.
Ever surfed? Ever get so wiped out that clutching your
last-gasp breath in your chest you take one final agonized push
to the surface and hit sand instead? Bad. Wrong direction. Keep
that breath in. Become good friends with it—the alternative
sucks (but once, only).
Any experienced mushroom picker has been lost. For a
while, at least.
Well the fog came in, I was on a cross country bushwhack
from a not so familiar direction, the sun stopped shining,
ceased showing me where south was, and I was head down in
huckleberries. Crawling on my belly like a reptile. (I don’t think
my tongue was doing that saurian slithering though.)
Huckleburied. Ten-foot tendrils with jagged leaves clawing at
me. Yikes!
Oh, but there were blacks. And that made it okay to be
temporarily not on the prescribed route. (Sort of like a flight
path but not so formal. As in, I’ll go down this canyon for a ¼
mile then turn north, climb back out, spot the truck and get in.)
Okay, I was lost for a bit but my bag felt like 5#’s of
Craterellus so I sauntered up and down and around and then
the sun came out and south was determined and so then was
the direction of the truck. Life is good.
And so are these recipes that were made up for the SOMA
camp big all-mushroom-dishes dinner last Sunday. Quite a few
of you were there among the 225 diners so you can tell others
just how good these taste. So make them.
One more bit of info on the season: As of yesterday,
January 21, up the coast—bellybutton hedgehogs are still going
strong and they are big and small and pale yellow and deep
orange and the rapandums are just, well, big; black babies were
left behind and are somewhat plentiful and should be available
to pick through March; yellow foot are where they are
supposed to be and there really were not many other fungi out.
Lasagne al Funghi
Serving Size: 8 Preparation Time : 2:00
1 cup porcini mushrooms, dried
1 onion, yellow, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1¼ lbs button mushrooms, chopped
2½ tbsp olive oil
1½ lb tomatoes, diced, canned
1 pt tomato juice
7 oz tomato paste
1¼ tsp oregano, dried
1 bay leaf
1 lb spinach, fresh, chopped
¾ lb ricotta
6 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
S & P
1¼ lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
1½ lb lasagna noodles
Béchamel:
1 cup stock (vegetable, chicken or veal)
½ onion, sliced
1 tsp peppercorns
1 carrot, medium, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp butter, unsalted
2 tbsp flour, all-purpose
2/3 cup milk, hot
salt & cayenne pepper

Page 4       The Mycena News, February, 2006
January in the
Oakland Hills:
Pignics and Pussycats
Debbie Viess
In case you haven’t heard, we are having a banner year for
chanterelles. It started along the North Coast this past Fall, with
a bountiful harvest of white and gold chanterelles. Now,
golden chanterelles are fruiting everywhere in Oakland under
coast live oak. But the competition for mushrooms can be
fierce. Driving up to one of our favorite chanterelle spots in late
December, David and I spotted three suspicious, parked
vehicles. Could they be mushroomers? Sure enough, two pairs
of folks sauntered out of the woods with bulging bags. But
fortunately, with this years’ profligate abundance, there were
still plenty of chanterelles for us latecomers. And the pickers
that preceded us (as did we) left the babies for the next go-
round.
Entering another favorite East Bay park last week (for
hiking, not collecting) I passed a young couple carrying a
brazenly brimming basket of chanterelles. They were headed
for the parking lot where I had just passed a ranger, apparently
unaware that picking mushrooms on EBRPD land is illegal.
But ignorance of the law is no excuse. I alerted them to the
looming hazard, and encouraged more discretion next time. As
I left them, the gal whipped off her sweatshirt to conceal their
cache. By the way, it’s also been a good year for candy caps
(mmmmmmm, maple), so be sure to collect and dry some up
for the lean times ahead. Extricating these fragrant fungi from
their nests of California blackberry vines felt almost like a game
of pick up sticks, except that the sticks had teeth, and weren’t
afraid to bite.
My biggest (400+ pounds), competing, local myco-
foragers apparently had a real pignic in a patch of pale yellow,
mild tasting (I know, ‘cause I tasted ‘em) russula …there were
fragments flung here and there, caps cleanly munched, and only
one in its entirety remaining for my ID. These four-legged pigs
definitely prefer the mild-tasting russulas over the peppery red
ones, which they disdain. I have found the red ones tumbled
uneaten onto the trail, or, at best, with a perfect porcine dental
impression in their cap: bite and spit. Since I also discovered
intact nests of chanterelles along the pig trails, and I have never
seen half-eaten chanterelles, it leads me to believe that, for
whatever reason, the pigs don’t eat these, either. I guess their
roto-tiller foraging under the oaks is more for the acorn mast,
tubers and what have you, than for our tender morsels of
California gold. Still, our landscape and its natural inhabitants
are big losers when the pigs come to town, even if they leave
me (and you) the chanterelles.
But sometimes, even I feel piggish. After all, how many
mushrooms can I possibly eat? Thankfully, there were wet and
wild waxy caps enlivening the woods. Sparing my stomach
(with a little eye candy instead) were bright yellow Hygrocybe
flavescens, red-orange pointy-headed H. acutoconica , and the
color-shifting Hygrocybe psittacina: green-capped in youth (like its
parrot namesake) it soon fades to brown, then tan, or sometimes,
a confusing combination of soft pastels. The gills stay
compellingly green, however, even when the cap color is
indistinct.
Still fruiting under the manzanita and madrone was the
fuzzy and edible Agaricus subrutilescens, and further along, at the
trails edge, the dimunitive Agaricus dimunitivus. A robust, golden,
scrobiculate-stiped Lactarius alnicola wept copious white latex
when I injured its flesh; it returned the favor with a knock your
socks off peppery taste. Attractive yet deadly, Galerina autumnalis
was delicately fruiting here and there along moss covered
limbs, and there were large patches of deceptively “pretty in
green” Amanita phalloides, continuing their spread into our local
oak woodlands. I also discovered a rare variety of bush-
dwelling Marasmius plicatilus; you can see this photo and more
by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mssf/ and
clicking on the “January in the East Bay Hills” folder by
Amanitarita.
And lest you think that the worst that you can experience
on your fungal forays are encounters with poison oak, or an
infestation of (shudder) ticks, think again. Sometimes, our
notions of predator (me, upon mushrooms) and prey shifts. I
encountered an all too fresh mountain lion track at Huckleberry
Preserve, at just about dusk, on Friday, January 6
th, 2006. The
cat had walked upon the tracks of a man and his dog that had
passed by me earlier, while I was sitting on the ground…sanding
graffiti off of a signpost… with my back to the trail…
oblivious. Hello, kitty.

The Mycena News, February, 2006           Page 5
Cultivation Corner
Ken Litchfeld
Cultivating ”Wild” Chanterelles
After a slow start with late rains this is turning out to be a
banner year for chanterelles in our stomping ground in the Far
East Bay hills. We had a little rain in early October before the
traditional winter start on Halloween weekend. With practically
no further rain by Thanksgiving weekend, and the ground
parched under the litter layer we found perhaps part of a
grocery bag’s worth, half in pretty prime condition and half
good for inoculating some deep duff under some oaks closer
to home. And that’s after checking all our usual patches. But
then the real down pours came and since this area is in a rain
dump we get a tad more than the surrounds. By solstice we
were picking bushels in new territories without even getting to
the usual patches.
We did visit two very reliable patches a couple hundred
yards apart, separated by a ridge. The first was near the bottom
of a temporary creek finally flowing well and that patch was in
full bloom with big primos tight and clean. After filling two
grocery bags -plus the two we already had from new territo-
ries- we hauled up to the top of the low ridge. There we could
see a patch in full bloom. But we had to pick our way to get
there all along the ridge and slopes of the bowl, at the drip line
of the oaks, in the poison ivy and at the trunks, just everywhere.
By the time we reached the vicinity of the other patch we just
set down all the bags at the bottom of the bowl and ran around
making a bunch of big golden piles scattered in convenient
locations. The other “patch” was a little bigger than its usual size
(about the same size as the Randall auditorium) but about three
times as productive as its previous best and it’s frontier
boundaries now merged with a total patch bigger than a
football field. We topped off all six of our grocery bags and
then filled two more burlap gunney sacks with all the piles. By
then we had more than we could carry and went back to the
creek to follow it home. But the weight was so much we had
to leave the gunney sacks in the creek bed to be picked up the
next day. Going back by a different route to pick up the sacks
took us through new terrain where we loaded up so much
again that we had to make a third trip back up the creek to get
the sacks. They weighed over 45 lbs and the complete haul of
all those trips and a couple more the following weekend totaled
in the range of 80 to 100 lbs. It is hard to make a good weight
estimate of chanterelles because they vary so much due to water
content but, in volume, we’re talking several bushel baskets.
That is a lot of cleaning and slicing and drying and they dry
down to about 1/12 of their wet weight, which is almost
disheartening until you get a whiff of a container of dry
chanterelles. The most reminiscent fragrance would be fresh-
from-the-oven cinnamon pecan rolls made from dough rising
with yeast instead of baking powder. Yes, we precooked a
bunch by dry sautéing them and freezing, but drying mass
amounts is more efficient. And we now have plenty of dry
biomass for some interesting culinary experiments.
In cleaning we did get a few pounds of inoculation pulp,
dirt, and detritus to put under a few local groves with deep duff
from oak leaves and supplemental woodchips. I know of folks
who have had success with inoculating their own non-produc-
tive oaks by scattering their chanterelle cleanings in the duff of
their groves for several seasons until the groves began to
produce every year. Spreading extra organic matter like wood
chips or oak leaves collected from other areas to deepen and
enhance the groves’ duff would enhance the root environment
of the trees. Besides convenience for yourself the ideal grove
has good crown cover for wind protection, shade, and
humidity. A range of age in the trees is good also with young
seedlings and youthful 3-6 inch diameters as well as some old
folks. The younger ones would probably be more likely to
strike up a mycorrhizal conversation with a chanterelle hypha,
develop a relationship, and then introduce the significant other
around to the older folks. If you happen to have poison oak
growing out around the drip line of the grove as is common
in the wild, then you have a better wind break and humidity
cover, and perhaps even another mycorrhizal host.
It is common to find candy caps on the same oaks roots
as the chanterelles and blewits growing sporadically in the oak
leaves. As they all fruit at the same time in different niches of the
same oak habitat they are good indicator species for each
other’s presence. If you keep a good refreshment layer of oak
or maple leaves and wood chips or straw or other organic
matter under your groves you can easily have plenty of blewits
coming up each season while you are waiting for the chanter-
elles to get established. Once you have a good layer of duff built
up you can inoculate it with the blewit collections you make.
Save the youngest purplest blewits for the pan but the caps and
stems of older tanned specimens should be collected to mush
up in a slurry to pour in the duff layer. The slurry can be made
in a 5 gallon bucket with carrying handle, half full of water with
the crushed mushrooms and a dollop of molasses added. Let
it sit for a few hours in a warm place to germinate. The slurry
will contain spores and mycelia fragments from the caps and
stems that can both grow out. The spores will be genetically
different but similar to the parent mushroom and the mycelia
will be clones. The bases of the young purple blewits and of the
older tan ones can be cut off separately and planted like bulbs
in the duff.. When collecting the blewit in the wild it is also
possible to bring back some of the mycelial matter and duff in
a separate bag to use for inoculation. Just gently smooth back
out the duff and fill in any holes so that the duff and the mycelial
mat in that location will grow back together.
Radioactive tracer research in the laboratory has been
performed on three organisms in vitro, a tree, an associated
mycorrhizal fungus, and a saprobic fungus. It was found that
when the saprobic fungus is given a radioactive nutrient it
passes from that fungus into the mycorrhizal fungus and then
into the host seedling. When the tracer is given to the seedling
it passes into the mycorrizal fungus but not on to the saprobic
       Continued on page 7

Page 6       The Mycena News, February, 2006
Tom Sasaki
Made Honorary Member
After 33 Years of  Service
Bill Freedman
Tom Sasaki, always a soft-spoken man, quietly joined
the MSSF in 1973. At that time, I believe he was the
Chairman of the Mountain Climbing section of the SF Sierra
Club Chapter. He almost immediately began to climb into
MSSF leadership roles, volunteering to be the Membership
Chairman in 1974. By 1975, he was elected Vice President
and President-elect. That year he introduced the role of
Foray Coordinator with the following Mycena News  an-
nouncement:
“For your enjoyment, education and fellowship several
forays have been scheduled during this and the coming
months. Specific details regarding meeting places, etc. will
be announced later. In order to make your hunt more
enjoyable, the following (fine suggestions, well worth re-
peating), are offered:
1. Bring lunch and water and clothes suitable for the
weather.
2. Bring paper or wax(ed) bags ( NOT PLASTIC) or
a basket of breathable material in which to carry your find.
3. Gather only the amount of mushroom needed for
your purpose.
4. Restore natural habitats to their normal states.
5. Dispose of the rejects so as not to leave an unsightly
deposit or mess visible to other people who may also be
using the area for hiking, bird watching, etc.
6. Practice & communicate principles of mushroom
conservation.
7. Support ecological programs designated to preserve
the environment”. (This list well describes the sort of person
that Tom is).
He served as President for 1976-77. 1978 saw him as
Foray Committee Chairman. For the next 8 years he was
solely in charge of the San Francisco Fungus Fair. In l986 he
was the Fair Co-chairman. He was continuously active
preparing dishes for the culinary group and in 1981 he
coordinated the hors d’ouerves . In l982 we read that he was
leading forays on Land’s End.
Personal matters intervened and he wasn’t heard from
until l993 writing the Mycena News  obituary for Dr. Kurz. In
1996, he co-chaired the Membership committee. That year
he volunteered to serve as Vice President and coordinated
the Fair Volunteers. In Land’s End he was again leading
forays in 1999. He began to take charge of Morel Forays in
2000 and continued until 2005. Still active in the Culinary
group without getting overweight, he continued to take part
in the enjoyable excesses of that group. In general, every year
he volunteers to help wherever needed at the Fungus Fairs,
and has written many articles for the Mycena News . Of
course, many of our members know him as one of our
popular foray leaders. When he became the Trustee of this
area for NAMA, he initiated the pre-speaker beginner
educational sessions now in session at our general meetings
with the NAMA slides shows, enjoyed by many in our
group.
To be eligible for Honorary Membership in our soci-
ety, one needs to have demonstrated the continued willing-
ness over a period of years to contribute significantly to the
welfare of the MSSF. I think that Tom is an excellent
example of such a member, and I congratulate him on his
honorary membership.
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, February, 2006           Page 7
January Slide Program
for Beginners
Rescheduled for February
Tom Sasaki
Apologies to all those who showed up for the January
program on mushroom slides for beginners. As the program
did not arrive in time for the January showing, we have
rescheduled it to be shown at 6:45 pm on Tuesday, February
21 prior to the program of the general meeting at the Randall
Museum.
This program features first showing of gilled mushrooms
with white spores and includes the following genera: Amanita,
Lepiota, Hygrophorous and the Russula. The program that
was originally scheduled for February will now be shown in
March. It will be a continuation of the discussion on white
spored mushrooms and will include the genera on Armillaria,
Mycena, Flammulina, Collyubia, Marasmius, Clitocybe,
Laccaria and Pleurotus among others.
The program originally scheduled for March will now be
dropped and may be shown next fall. Instead, in April, with the
beginning of the Morel season and with interest in Morel
forays, we will be showing the program “Morels, Truffles,
and Other Spring Fungi”.
For further information regarding the above programs, con-
tact Tom Sasaki by email at [EMAIL] or by
phone at [PHONE]
fungus. This would indicate that the mycorrhizal fungus is
symbiotic with the tree but parasitic on the saprobic mush-
room and sharing those nutrients with the tree. However, the
same relationship transferred to the wild would indicate that
the tree shares nutrients back with the saprobic mushroom
every time it drops its leaves and the birds nesting or roosting
in it drop food or dribble their poop below. In the relationship
of the oak and chanterelle the blewit and other saprobes may
perform this nutrient transfer function. Regardless, having a
thick layer of duff also provides good habitat for the germina-
tion and growth of the chanterelle remnants that you scatter in
the duff.
Of course, “your” groves may not be on “your” property
but in various convenient locations. They could also be out in
‘your” collecting patches on unproductive trees. So when you
are collecting you don’t have to, and really wouldn’t want to,
bring back every chanterelle you find. Many will be past prime
but you should pick them anyway and scatter them in good
duff under non-producing trees. It has been observed many
times that cutting or picking chanterelles actually increases the
patches’ productivity over time, whether you pull them or cut
them. A discussion of this picking and productivity can be
found at the [EMAIL] members-only internet
discussion group, messages 8433 – 8438 (If you are a member
and you haven’t partaken of our yahoo group it is very
worthwhile to activate a yahoo ID and check out the group for
events, info, what’s popping up and where, philosophical – um
- discussions, and more.). When you pick all of the chanterelles
in an area and take only the prime ones for yourself and scatter
around all the rest to inoculate new areas you are occupying the
niche you were designed to fill. The spores will be distributed
and wild chanterellivores will still be able to partake also. Think
of it like you are deadheading flowers so the plant will come
back with more blooming instead of dying off because it has
reproduced. The chanterelle/oak community will “know”
that, hey, there is an efficient and determined spore distributor
out there and we need to take advantage of this opportunity to
make more fruiting bodies.
As a responsible forest steward and human chanterellivore
in symbiotic relationship with one of your favorite wild hosts,
not only should you partake of the opportunity to partake in
the wild bounty offered to you, it is your duty to pargive back
to the forest community with your responsible behavior.
Cultivation Corner                    Continued from page 5
Have you ever wanted to try your blue pencil at
editing the Mycena News? Now's your chance.
We're looking for a guest editor for the March issue.
No pay, plenty of gratitude, minimal grief. If inter-
ested, please send an email to Bill at
[EMAIL].

Page 8       The Mycena News, February, 2006
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
Calendar                                               Continued from page 10
1. Re-hydrate the porcini. Reserve water (use to replace tomato
juice as needed). Sauté the porcini with the next 4 ingredients,
in the oil.
2. Add the tomato stuff and the herbs to the above. Simmer
about 30 minutes. Remove the bay.
3. Cook the spinach quickly, and drain. Add the spinach to the
ricotta, Parmesan, egg (beaten), S & P.
4. Make the Béchamel: Cook the onions, carrots, peppercorns,
and bay leaf in the stock for 30 minutes. Strain. Make a roux and
break it with the hot milk, stock, etc.
5. Layer the lasagne (4-6 layers is good).
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1–1 1/2 hrs until 140 degrees at
center. If you have the time cool and then reheat the lasagne—
it will be better.
Note: I made an additional sauce, a strong Mornay with good
cheese, and added quite a bit of dried porcini powder to nap
the individual pieces at service.
Candy Cap Shortbread Cookies
Serving Size: 2  Preparation Time: 2:00 (including chilling the
dough)
2/3 lb butter, salted
¾ lb light brown sugar
3 cups flour, all-purpose
½ cup dried candy caps, rehydrated, sautéed in butter, chopped
small
Oven at 300 degrees
1. Cream butter and sugar. Incorporate cooled candy caps and
flour slowly until thoroughly mixed.
2. Roll the dough, using wax paper, into equal –sized logs. Chill
at least 1 hr.
3. Slice into 1/4" rounds. Bake 15 minutes on an un-greased
sheet pan in a 300-degree oven. You may need to rotate the
sheet pans after 7 or 8 minutes to brown the cookies evenly.
Cool.
That’s all for now folks!
Tuesday, March 21, 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 March program will be the
Gilled Mushrooms II: White Spored and will discuss Armillaria,
Mycena, Flammulina, Collybia, Marasmius, Clitocybe, Laccaria,
and Pleurotus among others. 
Tuesday, April 18, 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. In April, we will feature
“Morels, Truffles, and Other Spring Fungi”.

The Mycena News, February, 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
Hi folks:
We need your help. Emails change frequently these days
and sometimes members forget to update us. If we have the
wrong email for you, we can’t:
• Send your payment confirmation
• Contact you easily with questions
• Notify you of password changes; and
• Allow you into the Yahoo member listserv
It also means that we spend substantial time later, replying
to dozens of requests for missing passwords, and the volunteer
listserv administrator investigating the identity of the new email
address.
So, before we change the password this month, would you
please check your email in the roster and email me if it has
changed (at [EMAIL])?
Many, many thanks for this help! — Polly
************
Please renew memberships now to receive 2006 publica-
tions and to continue your access to the MSSF website. (Check
the mailing label on your Mycena News to find out when your
membership expires.) Please complete the enclosed applica-
tion and a check made out to “MSSF Membership,” and speed
it to “MSSF c/o the Randall Museum,” 199 Museum Way, San
Francisco, CA 94114. You can also renew online by using the
PayPal option on the MSSF website. If you do, please send
Polly Shaw your full contact information in the application (at
[EMAIL] or [PHONE]).
The regular, adult/family membership fee is $25.00.
Seniors over 65 and full-time students pay $20.00. 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 member-
ship list for mailings by mycological businesses. If you do not
want your name included, let us know on the application.

MSSF Calendar, February, 2006
Mycological Society of San Francisco
c/o The Randall Museum
199 Museum Way
San Francisco, CA 94114
February, 2006, vol 57:02
First Class Mail
U.S. Postage
PAID
Jackson, CA
Permit No 29
Note: Deadline for the March 2006 issue of  Mycena News is February 20.
Please send your articles, calendar items and other information to:
[EMAIL]
 Continued on page  8
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...please make them on time; our
cooks need to know in advance how many will be in
attendance. 7 pm at the Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park,
9th and Lincoln, San Francisco. For reservations, call Pat
George, [PHONE] or e-mail [EMAIL]
no later than Friday, February 3rd. Upcoming Culinary Group
dinner dates in 2006 (all Mondays): March 6, April 3, May 1,
September 11, October 2, November 6. Mark you calendars!
Tuesday, February 21: MSSF General Meeting. Randall
Museum. Mushroom Identification at 7:00 pm. Photography
contest at 8:00 pm.
Tuesday, February 21, Mushroom Program for Begin-
ners.
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 February program will be
Gilled Mushrooms I: White Spored and will include the
Amanita, Lepiota, Hygrophorous and the Russula genera.
Tuesday. February 28: Wild Mushroom Dinner at Martini
House restaurant, in St. Helena, chef Todd Humphries will
create a wild mushroom dinner to accompany winemakers’
selections with the winemakers, and mushroom folks Connie
Green and Patrick Hamilton, discussing the pairings.