THE NEWSLETTER OF WISCONSIN MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY December, 1993 Vol. 10, No. 4 Contents: 1) Message from the President 2) Winter Meetings 3) It's Time to Renew! 4) Return of the WMS Labor Day Weekend Foray by Alan Parker 5) Mushroom Books 6) Volunteer Needed 7) South Kettle Moriane Foray by Martyn Dibben 8) Pike Lake State Park Foray by Bill Blank 9) Brightondale County Park Foray by Dave Menke 10) Madison Area Foray by Tom Volk 11) Monches Woods West/Ice Age Trail Foray by Alan Parker 12) 1993 Mushroom Fair By Martyn Dibben 13) The `Old Man of the Woods', Strobilomyces Floccopus by Steve Nelsen 14) Mushroom Protection, Polish Style by Steve Nelsen 15) Quote 16) Recipe: Mushroom Sauce for Pasta by Joanne Pasek MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Welcome to all of our new members. I hope you will find joining Wisconsin Mycological Society a rewarding experience. This was a good year for mushrooms -- and as such the WMS's membership is mushrooming, having grown about 15% this fall. This year was quite uneven mushroom-wise. During the summer and early fall they were abundant but during the middle and late fall they were more spotty. Overall, the mycophagists had plenty to eat and the collectors of rarities were kept busy with new curiosities popping up. This was the most hectic fall I can remember -- with more fungal events then one person could possibly attend. No one attended every foray. Be sure to read the foray reports in this newsletter to see what you've missed or to recall all of those mushrooms which now are just a part of the gray past. The Mushroom Fair was a big success this year bringing a lot of interest and new members. Read Dr. Dibben's report in this newsletter for all of the details. The WMS is a great opportunity to learn about fungi and to meet other people that share your interest. But remember that you only get out what you put in. Learning is fun but it's hard work. A good time to start is this January with our annual slide show and social. LeRoy and Kris Ciombor always cook up a feast. Be sure to bring a few slides of mushrooms and your 'shrooming adventures to share. I hope to see you all there. Peter Vachuska WINTER MEETINGS January -- slide show and social. Members are encouraged to bring about 5 slides to share with other members. February -- NAMA slide show. March -- lecture, speaker to be announced. Notices providing exact dates and further details on the above events will be mailed out separately. IT'S TIME TO RENEW! Your 1994 dues notice is enclosed with this newsletter. Please take a minute now and send in your dues payment. If you joined at the 1993 Mushroom Fair or at one of the fall forays, your dues are paid through 1994. For those of you that belong to NAMA (North American Mycological Association) or wish to join, you can pay your NAMA dues through WMS at a reduced rate of $12 (instead of $15). RETURN OF THE WMS LABOR DAY WEEKEND FORAY Remember the 1988-1990 Labor Day weekends of fungi, saunas, and blackened chanterelles in the Michigan Upper Peninsula? We're back --- same time, but different place. Carol Lamphear-Cook and Alan and Diana Parker will host the 4th annual Labor Day foray. The details are as follows: TIME: 2-5 September 1994 PLACE: Treehaven -- University of Wisconsin -- Stevens Point Field Station. Located just east of Tomahawk and Hwy 51 in north-central Wisconsin; approximately a 4.5 hour drive from metro-Milwaukee. Arrive Friday (2 September) late afternoon through the evening: departure late Monday (5 September) morning after breakfast. A limited number of Saturday arrivals are possible. FACILITIES: Modern dormitory with 14 rooms that will accommodate 2-4 persons each. In the past we have reserved one room per couple, with singles deciding on roommates on their own. All meals (Saturday breakfast through Monday breakfast) will be served in the on-site cafeteria. To keep costs as low as possible, all participants must sign up for both food and lodging. Costs will run approximately $90 per person for the entire weekend (3 nights lodging and 7 meals). We will try to have an alternative package for a few people that cannot arrive before Saturday afternoon. We will have two display rooms for working on fungi and setting up educational displays of identified species. Treehaven consists of approximately 1000 acres with numerous trails and diverse plant communities -- spruce-tamarack bog, open marsh, red pine plantation, mixed upland forest, and stands of aspen-birch and spruce-fir. A wide variety of other collecting areas are within short driving distance. There should be something to please everyone, with options of collecting individually or in groups. You must preregister for this trip -- space is limited to 30 people, and this foray has filled very quickly in past years. To preregister, call Alan/Diana Parker at 542-7688. There will be a registration sheet at the January-March meetings if space is still available. A $45 deposit will be due in late June -- do not send money now; you will be notified after the initial registration is completed. This is a great opportunity to study a variety of more northern fungi in a very relaxed and scientific environment! The accommodations at Treehaven are very modern, clean, and comfortable. Hope to see you there. Alan Parker MUSHROOM BOOKS A current catalog of Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller, is advertising Roger Phillips Mushrooms of North America (#128090), paperback for $9.95, Geoffrey Kibby's American Nature Guide Mushrooms and other Fungi (#803162), spiralbound for $9.95, and M. McKenny & D. E. Stuntz's The New Savory Wild Mushroom (#520918) for $8.95. If interested in ordering one or more of these, send the price of each book plus $3.00 shipping and handling to: Edward R. Hamilton, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000. VOLUNTEER NEEDED The need for carpooling from Milwaukee to foray sites has been brought to my attention. What is needed is a volunteer in Milwaukee to coordinate ridesharing. Anyone interested, please contact Peter Vachuska (414) 335-3339. SOUTH KETTLE MORAINE FORAY Town of Eagle, Waukesha Co. Pine Woods SE of railroad on Co. S off of Rt. 59 Thirty-four stout souls gathered at 10:00 a.m. on Sept. 4, 1993 for a repeat visit to one of the southern Kettle Moraine State Forest's `standard sites' for the Wisconsin Mycological Society. Dr. Dibben took charge of some dozen or so "starters" for an instructional mushroom tour, while the other foragers took off to look more intently for specific fungal groups. A 12:00 noon deadline was set for return to the cars, with an afternoon option to visit the mixed-wood habitats around the intersection of Hwys G & ZZ. Time was taken to explain principles and discuss finds with the foray members before departing for lunch and/or other adventures. Despite a relatively dry week, forty-nine identifiable taxa were found: Amanita brunnescens, Amanita citrina, Amanita fulva, Amanita muscaria, Amanita vaginata, Amanita verna/virosa, Armillaria mellea (sp. group), Astraeus hygrometricus, Auriscalpium vulgare, Boletus cf. luridus, Cantherellus cibarius, Clavulina cristata, Clitocybe odora, Collybia maculata, Cordyceps ophioglossoides, Cortinarius semisanguineus, Crucibulum laeve, Favolus (Polyporus) alveolaris, Ganoderma applanatum, Helvella crispa, Humaria cf. hemisphaerica, Hydnellum cf. spongiosipes, Hydnum repandum, Hygrophorus cf. eburneus, Hygrophorus russula, Hypomyces hyalinus, Hypomyces lactifluorum, Inocybe cf. geophylla, Laccaria ochropurpurea, Lactarius cf. atroviridis, Lactarius chrysorheus, Leccinum cf. holopus, Leotia lubrica, Lycogola epidendron (slime mold), Lycoperdon echinatum, Lycoperdon perlatum, Paxillus atrotomentosus, Paxillus cf. involutus, Pluteus cervinus, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, Ramaria cf. stricta, Scleroderma aurantium, Scleroderma michiganense, Scutellinia scutellata, Strobilomyces floccopus, Thelephora terrestris, Tremella concrescens, Tremella cf. reticulata, Tremellodendron pallidum (schweinitzii), Tricholoma cf. sejunctum(?). Martyn Dibben PIKE LAKE STATE PARK FORAY Great weather and beautiful autumn scenery accompanied us at the Pike Lake State Park foray this year. A Sunday (9/19/93) event, about 15 to 20 people attended and the forest was scoured for any hint of fungi. Alas, very few edibles were found. It seemed to be a "between season time" for the woods and the ground was void of anything even resembling a mushroom. A few honey mushrooms were found, along with a destroying angel, and Thuemeniella cubispora showed up in somebody's basket. Last year at the miniforay located here we found wood blewitts, honeys and numerous giant puffballs with plenty of rain falling on us. This year it was sun, fun, and great hiking. Bill Blank BRIGHTONDALE COUNTY PARK FORAY The day (9/25/93) before the Mushroom Fair, six to eight hardy WMS members gathered at Brightondale County Park in Kenosha Co. to collect whatever could be displayed on the exhibit at the fair. Despite the threat of rain, we spent 3 hours in the woods and at the identification table before the rain started. About 15 species were collected, not all identified exactly until further study by the experts at the fair. Collected were Agaricus campestris, Amanita sp., Armillaria mellea, Boletinus (Suillus) sp., Cortinarius sp., Entoloma sp., Ganoderma lucidus, Grifola frondosus, Laccaria ochropurpurea, Lenzites sp. a polypore with radiating gill-like structures, Mycena sp., Pholiota sp., Polyporus sulfureus, Russula sp., several "LBM's", and a rare black spored "bump on a log" with a black-staining wet surface collected by Pat Laurson. The Lenzites sp. and the black "bump-on-the-log" were later identified and put into the museum herbarium by Martyn Dibben. Dave Menke MADISON AREA FORAY About 15 people showed up on a bright Sunday morning (10/3/93) for the third annual Madison area foray, this time at Indian Lake County Park in northern Dane County, about 15 miles north of Madison. The lower turnout was attributed to another distant foray the previous day, as well as the unusual Sunday morning time, as necessitated by a particularly strange and changing fall schedule for me. Those who came were rewarded with seeing some unusual fungi. The most prominent edible fungus found was Grifola frondosa, the hen-of-the-woods, or sheepshead, as they call it in the east. I prefer that name as there are already too many chickens and hens and such as common names for fungi. In any case, several large specimens of the mushroom were found, including one over 10 lbs! This year was particularly good for this mushroom everywhere I looked, after barely making an appearance the last several years. Clitocybe (= Lepista) nuda was just beginning to fruit, and many young speciments with vivid lilac color were found, as well as specimens of the pale ivory, but otherwise identical, Clitocybe irina. A large fruiting of young Coprinus comatus (shaggy mane or lawyer's wig) was also found. An unusual bolete for these parts was also found, Gyroporus cyanescens, characterized by its brilliant blue staining reaction where cut or injured. Entoloma abortivum (hunter's heart) was also very common in its association with Armillaria. It is not an attractive fungus by any means, looking like a lump of dough before it's been rolled into a bun, but has quite an unusual delicious taste and texture. Several poisonous mushrooms were also found, the most interesting of which was a large cluster of enormous Galerina autumnalis, which is the first time I have seen this common deadly poisonous species large enough and with the right coloration to be easily mistaken for the delicious Armillaria (honey mushrooms), which were just beginning to fruit. Be sure to take a spore print!!! The most interesting fungus, found by Steve Nelsen, was a large resupinate fruiting body of the bright orange-red crust fungus Phlebia coccineofulva. It is very rare in North America, and to my knowledge is only the third time it has been found in the midwest. It was quite spectacular in fresh condition, but dries to a dark black ugly crust! It was very interesting to see it fresh and so colorful. With all the rain and abundant mushrooms this summer, the fall mushroom season in most places this fall was not very spectacular, although many unusual species could be found if you were diligent enough. I've been in Wisconsin 13 years and this is the 13th unusual fall season in a row! Next year's Madison area foray should be no exception. Tom Volk MONCHES WOODS WEST/ICE AGE TRAIL FORAY Upon arriving promptly at 10 a.m. on 10/9/93, I noted several empty cars and no one milling around the parking area. I assumed the sunny but very brisk weather had driven everyone into the woods without waiting for the usual introductory remarks. Three or four people did appear while I was assembling collecting gear, and we departed for the woods via the Ice Age Trail. My notes from the foray indicate a rather unexceptional day in the field: talked to four people in the woods, explained how to identify Armillaria, got lost, hiked a mile in the wrong direction, saw Elvis, got slightly lost again, picked a bag of Armillaria for a friend, found a beautiful Hericium, arrived back at the cars an hour late, everyone except Tula was gone or still in the woods. As I drove back toward Waukesha, I kept thinking that a new concept was emerging - the stealth foray leader. Since I never saw any of the fungi collected, other than my own specimens, the list of interesting species is very meager. One beautiful Hericium, a lot of fresh young Armillaria, perfect material of Panellus serotinus, and a nice collection of that strange, brown feathery Ascomycete parasite that grows on the bottom of the Artist's Conk. Alan Parker 1993 MUSHROOM FAIR by Martyn Dibben The tenth annual MPM/WMS Mushroom Fair was held Sunday, September 26, 1993. The general theme was "Growing Your own" and starred club members and John Cook, President of the Shiitake Growers Association of Wisconsin. Roughly 1,500 visitors strolled through the fair, with attendance spurred by MPM's recent opening of the Native American exhibit Tribute to Survival. Unfortunately, the Mushroom Brunch, which once again was run as an 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ala carte,} proved too popular and quickly ran out of the choice fungal dishes. Oh well, there is always next year! The annual Midwestern Mushroom Photocontest drew great entries with twenty-six competitors submitting 125 slides for judgement. This year's winners were from Illinois (Darien), Massachusetts (Springfield), Ohio (East Palestine) and Wisconsin (Columbus, Greenfield, Madison, Milwaukee, New London, Plymouth, and West Allis). The Frederick W. Hainer Trophy Award went to Duaine Besaw (New London, WI) with his best-of-fair field shot of Ganoderma tsugae. It should be noted that the quality of photographs entered this year was much higher than average, and made the judge's job even harder! Only 16 WMS volunteers were able to help out at the fair this year (due in part to the clash caused by the Great Lakes Mycologists meeting), along with just one museum Greenhouse Garden Club member and several MPM education and plant sciences stuff. All are thanked for their contributions of time and talent, along with 1993's chefs, facepainter, mushroom growers, and magician. The fair generated 26 new club members - a good sign, while the museum shop sold close to $1,000.00 worth of mushroom products. This included 50 issues of Minnesotan Stan Tekiela's book "Start Mushrooming", for which he was on hand to autograph each and every copy. This event proved a real success along with John Cook's "how to" lecture. The 1994 eleventh Annual Mushroom Fair will again build on past activities, but we will need a new central theme, a lecture topic, and ideas for media exposure -- so come on you complainers, ante up! Face painting and mushroom magic will remain along with educational activities for the junior mycophiles. Adult areas will include arts & crafts, book sales, cooking demonstrationg, field collecting techniques, fungus flicks, identification tables, 'shroom growing kits, mycophilately (stamps), mushroom photography, poison information, morels, and WMS membership. All suggestions for next year's program must be submitted to the WMS Fair Committee chair Bill Blank (home: 476-1592) by January 31, 1994 -- so get thinking! Next year's event will be on Sunday, September 25, 1994 with a deadline for the Mushroom Photocontest of 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 31, 1994. Mark your calendars now and don't miss the fun! Better yet -- sign up as a fair volunteer with WMS book coordinator Kristine Ciombor (work: 278-4384; home: 321-8531). State your preferred booth time (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) and choice of activity area. If you can't volunteer, then come to the fair as a visitor and bring a friend (or potential WMS member). This annual event is only as successful as you the Club members wish to make it! THE `OLD MAN OF THE WOODS', STROBILOMYCES FLOCCOPUS by Steve Nelsen This is one of the easiest mushroom species to recognize, in pleasant contrast to most other boletes. It has large, dark brown to blackish, shaggy, felty scales, which show the whitish flesh through the cracks between them, and can usually be reliably identified from ten feet away by its general appearance. The `Old Man' looks strikingly unusual, and my wife Adrienne and I think it is one of the most interesting looking and prettiest mushrooms that we find. Everyone does not agree: Dermak and Pilat say that the reason it is now completely protected in Poland is that it was often "destroyed because of its strange appearance" (in Poznajemy grzyby, 1989). The `Old Man' starts fruiting in southern Wisconsin in July, and occurs frequently enough to find every year. It is uncommon and/or difficult enough to see in the woods because of its sombre color that Adrienne and I are always pleased to spot it. The English "common name" is amusing, if a bit cumbersome. Andrezej Grywacz, author of a Polish mushroom book, thought `Old Man of the Woods' was so cute that these are the only words of English in his book. However, the common name for over 100 years was `pine cone' or `cone-like' fungus or bolete. As usual, because English essentially lacks common names for mushrooms, this is simply a translation of the Latin name (both generic and specific in this case): strobilus is Latin (derived from Greek) for pine cone. Genus Strobilomyces was segregated from Fries's huge Boletus genus by Berkeley in 1851, with major characteristics of large, first whitish, non-separable pores, the scales, and very dark spores. The common species, and the one which appeared in manuals when only one was mentioned, was S. strobilaceus described (as Boletus s., of course) by Fries in 1828. However, Fries also published B. floccopus in 1821, which was distinguished by being larger, tougher, and as having the tubes depressed near the stem. It is now known that these characteristics are simply those of older specimens of the species, and by the rules of nomenclature, the earlier name floccopus must be used. The German common name for this mushroom is Struwwelkopf (also spelled Strubbelkopf, depending upon regional spelling differences). Strobel is an old German word for pine cone, which is no longer in common use. Struwwelkopf reminds any German of a still famous 19th century illustrated children's story about Struwelpeter, a bad boy who refused to comb his hair. I do not know whether the German common name is older than the Latin one or not. In English, the common name for Strobilomyces was still "pine cone fungus" in Hesler's 1960 monograph on boletes, and in Groves's 1962 manual. The oldest book in which I have seen "Old Man of the Woods" is Smith's exceedingly popular "Mushroom Lover's Handbook" (1963 edition), and it is used in virtually every book afterwords. There is bewildering divergence of opinion about whether the `Old Man' is good to eat. Smith certainly dislikes it, and most books agree with the statement in Smith and Thier's 1971 bolete monograph that "although not poisonous, this species has little to recommend it for the table." The American McKnights say nobody seems very enthusiastic about eating it, and the Italian Cetto says it is worthless because of its stringy flesh. Smith and Thiers say the opinion in quotes above is "nearly universal," which is a considerable exaggerationnn. `Madman McIlvaine, writing in 1902, is (as usual) effusive in his praise of the `Old Man's esculent qualities: "With many, this Boletus is a prime favorite. It has a strong taste, sometimes musky, sometimes faintly of anisette. It cooks well by any method". He points out that the scales, stem, and tubes need to be discarded before cooking. The "former East" German Dorfelt describes it as a useful edible mushroom. The American Krieger, writing in 1936, states that it is highly prized by the Bohemian people. Dermak and Pilat, who are Slovacs, only rank it "edible but hardly digestible", and the recent separation of Czechoslovakia shows that Bohemians and Slovacs don't agree on everything. Some authors cannot even agree with themselves. The Englishmen Phillips says it is "not worth eating" in his Great Britain and European book, but describes it as "edible, good" in his North American book, while the Frenchman Bon lists it as "edible" in the German language edition, but not in the English language edition of his book. I believe that Miller (1977) takes the right tack when he points out that Strobilomyces may be found standing in the fall and covered with green mold. As Fries already noted by having two "species," the `Old Man' gets tough and fibrous with age, and lasts for weeks in the woods. You surely would not want to eat it when it is old. It seems to me that there is no shortage of vegetables that are fine when they are young, but worthless when too old, and I suspect that the `Old Man' is one of them. I haven't tried eating it. Singer segregated a new species, S. confusus, in 1945. It primarily differs by having sharper, firmer, more erect spines on the cap, and somewhat different spores. It appears that confusus is principally more southern in distribution than Wisconsin. Smith and Thiers are unwilling to say it does not occur in Michigan, but deposited no authentic specimens, and and they comment that ones they found which might be this species appeared to have spores intermediate between floccopus and confusus. Could floccopus and confusus just be northern and southern forms which differ in appearance? I have not seen study of this question. MUSHROOM PROTECTION, POLISH STYLE by Steve Nelsen Not reading Polish, I missed the significance of a list of fungus in the Polish mushroom book I described in the March 1992 newsletter. When I found exactly the same list in a second book on mushrooms in Polish, I got a friend to tell me what the list really was. It seems particularly interesting with regard to the current spate of newspaper articles discussing the desirability of protecting the woods from mushroom collectors. The Polish government is way "ahead" of us in protecting fungus! In 1983 the Forestry Department published the following list of completely protected mushrooms, making it illegal to remove them from any forest in the country, even for private us, on the grounds that they had become too rare: Morchellaceae (Morels), all genera and species; Phallaceae (Stinkhorns), all genera and species; Lagermannia gigantea (Giant Puffball); Hericium racemosum and corallodies (Comb and Bear's-head Tooth); Grifola frondosa and umbellata (Hen-of-the-Woods and Umbrella Polypore); Meripilus giganteus (Blackening Polypore); Larchifomes officinalis (Larch Polypore); Strobilomyces floccopus (Old Man of the Woods); Xerocomus paraciticus (Parasitic Bolete, usually put in Boletus in the U.S.). I'm told that this law is still on the books, despite the political changes in Poland. I certainly have more trouble than I'd like finding morels, bear's head, hen-of-the-woods, and giant puffballs, but I sort of doubt that passing a law to make it illegal for anyone to take any is the solution. QUOTE "Nothing is so lovely as spring lichen across the face of crisp rock, cracking it into sand. Fungi shattering the earth into chips of marble has never failed to amaze me with its power. Thus does beauty become soil." graffiti on bridge entering Riverside Park in Milwaukee RECIPE: MUSHROOM SAUCE FOR PASTA Contributed by Joanne Pasek 1-1/2 pounds mushrooms, precooked till tender (delicate mushrooms, such as shaggy manes, need not be precooked) 2 tbsp. olive or salad oil 1 cup half & half 2 tbsp. lite soy sauce About 30 minutes before serving, thinly slice mushrooms. In a 12-inch skillet over high heat, in hot oil, cook mushrooms until tender and browned. Stir half & half and soy sauce into mushrooms; cook over high heat, stirring until sauce reduces slightly, about 3 minutes. This recipe makes about 3 cups sauce, enough to serve over 1 pound of pasta, cooked, for 6 servings. THE END