Holiday Forays
This year has been a challenge, but has also allowed us time to study and move forward in our knowledge of fungi. It has been just over a year since the Willamette Valley Mushroom Society Study Group was formed. Our original goal was to create a core group of people that could help ID mushrooms quickly during our Annual Mushroom Show. As the facilitator of this group, it was always my intention not only to learn about fungi but also create a curriculum or structure so others could learn as well. So as I learned, I created a structure and foundation for others to follow in our footsteps.
Our Study Group has consisted of 5 core members who through a pandemic, jobs, families, surgery and competing interests, have managed to continue to dedicate significant time to the study of fungi. Our mentor, Henry Young, has been a patient guide throughout this process, often giving us clues, but making us do the hard work. It is because of this hard work we can say we are citizen scientists. We are all dedicated to this field and are constantly learning and discovering new things to us. For instance, I knew that Tapinella atrotomentasa had a chemical reaction on it's cap to ammonia, it turns bright, vibrant purple but asked if it did the same thing to spores. I could not find that in any literature, so with my old microscope and a dropper full of household ammonia, I mounted a slide of spores to see. Sure enough, the outer edge of the spores did turn purple as well. It is the answer to the questions that is so exciting and the reason I keep working on getting better at identification and learning the nuances of the mushrooms I encounter.
This week my neurosurgeon cleared me for all activity, and since it is a pandemic, I have no holiday parties, potlucks or normal holiday festivities to celebrate. So I decided to gather my study group and try and get out into the woods as often as possible this week.
On Saturday, December 19th, we went to the Coastal Range and walked in the pouring rain to the damp canopy of spruce and cedar forest. I recognized a few mushrooms I had seen in other woods like the red capped Lactarius https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66973242 and the Dacrymyces chrysospermus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66971991 but found some new things I have only seen in books. Alloclavaria purpurea https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66971862 was one I have wanted to find since seeing pictures of club fungi and this was also the first time finding Albatrellus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66972557 .
On Monday, December 21st, we went back to McDonald Dunn Research Forest and walked through the old growth forest. I found my first Helvella maculata in this old growth https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66954886 , something I have never found in that part of the forest before. I was also so excited to observe a big patch of Helvella vespertina https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66985937 growing right along side its parasitic Clitocybe, C. sclerotoidea! Last year our group went and observed the C. sclerotoidea, and over this year, I learned more about the parasitic nature of growing on H. vespertina. I will be interested to see how many more Clitocybe show up throughout the season.
On Tuesday, December 22nd, we went to a small wooded park in Salem, and found a variety of late fall mushrooms. This was the first time I got to see a huge flush of Armillaria mellea https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66975421 . I have always seen pictures of them, but you can never get the full experience unless you see them first hand. Our hike around the trails at one point led us to walk through an ankle deep stream that had sprung up on the trail because we got so much rain this week. But that did not deter us from continuing on and being able to contribute to a Stereum Study on the other side of the US. We found an oak stand with a great flush of Stereum right across the trail from a stately Stropharia.
Our week isn't over and even though we can't celebrate the holidays with our friends and family, it is such a perfect time to reconnect with nature. There are so many things to observe and connect with right now. It might be rainy and cold, but it is always so exciting to kneel down in the mud, and use all your senses to learn something new. I see patterns now, something I was unaware of just one year ago.
