2009 Fall Forays Summary

This year we experienced another unpredictable mushroom season, rain came early in the summer, but very little afterwards and the summer was a cool one. A variety of mushrooms could be observed in July and August and our summer foray on Aug. 1 had a good collection, thanks to Terry Kirk for suggesting the location. The normal season was not great. The dry spell was followed by a colder than usual September to middle of October.

The Honey mushroom (Armillaria) arrived by surprise with no rain and aged fast; strangely the Armillaria ostoyae (brown one) came before the mellea (yellow one), normally it is the other way round. Very little of Calvatia gigantea was observed and none was found in the forays, the Suillus likewise and only in the last foray were a few samples of Suillus luteus collected. Lepista irina and nuda showed up in quantity only in early November. One large fungus that was observed often was the Laetiporus sulphureus (Chicken of the woods); reports came from many sources. So there was no plenty, but we did go looking very carefully, and that may explain the collection of Cordyceps in all the 3 last forays; a fairly small fungus, was this exceptional? We'll see if we find them again next year.

Of note was the presence of Dr. Greg Thorn on the Kitchener foray that produced some new finds, namely: Clitopilus scyphoides, Bulgaria inquinans, Porotheleum fimbriatum and Jafnea semitosta. We also had two Mycologists in the Oct. 3 foray, the only one with rain, thanks to Michael Warnock for encouraging participation.

Summing up the season statistically, we conducted 15 scheduled forays in our usual territory with the addition of some new locations and we do our best to give directions but there is always room for improvement. Attendance was very good; there is still a surge of interest by young persons to participate. Average participation was 23, a low of 8 and high of 45. The number of species identified was 310, with low of 33 and high of 85 and an average per foray of 56.5, close to last year's.

We also conducted 3 extra forays in small groups, one on Sep. 30 organized by Sharon Harris in the McMichael Gallery property, where we had the first encounter of the season with Galerina autumnalis. The second on Oct. 15 was in Ajax in a private estate, where the owner was interested in knowing what species grow there; most prominent was Coprinus comatus. The third on Oct. 31, arranged by Alan Gan, is described by Diethard Bohme on page 5. (Mycelium,Vol.36, #1, pg. 5)

Lots of gratitude is due to all the foray leaders who make the forays possible and share their knowledge with us. Thanks to Alan Gan who is omnipresent in helping with identification and telling new members that a few mushroom names every year can quickly add up to make one expert in identification. Wishing you all well for 2010, and a good Morel season coming up soon.

- Umberto Pascali, Foray Director