2008 Fall Forays Summary

This past summer was a pretty wet one and consequently mushrooms were popping out everywhere - members reported finding rare species like Albatrellus cristatus, Meripilus sumstinei and Bondarzewia berkeleyi. The Grifola frondosa arrived earlier than usual and came large and abundant - 2008 could qualify as the year of the Grifola, but lobster mushrooms, Hypomyces lactifluorum, were also abundant.

There were 16 organized forays spanning from the GTA to Niagara, Cambridge and Barrie; some yielded lots of species others not so many; some species had fruited earlier and mushroom seasons are always unpredictable.

In the first foray in Cambridge we hosted 5 very enthusiastic interns from the Ignatius Farm, organic cultivation. Identification was held in Kriss Gandier's beautiful garden - thanks Kriss for your comradely hospitality. On the second we combined with the RARE group a naturalist organization - thanks to Ernie Gallo for handling all the arrangements and to Larry Lamb of RARE for the hospitality.

Again this year the number of species, in general, was related to the number of participants - more people show up when conditions are more fruitful? It does help to have more eyes. The abundance of polypores helped to boost the species numbers, with a total of identified fungi at 329. The lowest foray species count was 15 and the highest 125 - of course when there is more expertise with identification the number goes up. Participant numbers varied from 5 to 57. Details of the species identified on each foray are posted on our website.

The season came to an early close - very little to be found by the end of October. Among the unusual finds were Fistulina hepatica and Rhodotus palmatus - in all we had lots of fun. Thanks to Gene Koczkur for hosting the identification in his basement after a rainy and cold foray at the Rouge.

In closing we give our thanks to all the foray leaders who kindly gave their time in helping new members to become familiar with the various mushrooms and made sure all was taken care of, and to all participants who made the forays successful. Hope to see you all running after morels in the spring.

- Umberto Pascali