February 9, 2010
Ever hear of a mushroom called Psathyrella aquatica? It’s a brand new species! And it’s gracing the cover of the latest issue of Mycologia, sitting here on my desk. The fungus is well known by now, in the mycophilic community, as news of it first broke several years ago and pretty much every myco club newsletter picked up on it. Fungi magazine will do a blurb on this paper for Editor’s Picks in the next issue of Fungi…Mycologia came out too late for the current issue.
If you can find the paper online or if you receive Mycologia, check it out as this is a great paper and the authors did everything exactly right in working up this fungus. Didn’t rush to press or anything. In the words of the great Orson Miller: one specimen is interesting; two is more interesting; three is a collection. Science should be based on collections; too often we have “new spp” named from a single specimen. These authors did everything right. They collected it many times over three years (at least); did the morphological work and did a good job with the DNA analysis. From ALL of this they determined this to be a new spp. Several big myco names reviewed the paper before it was accepted for publication, too.
Of course, there are other aquatic fungi but this seems to be the first time a gilled Basidiomycete has been seen growing and fruiting underwater. Weird…I mean truly weird. How does it sporulate? The authors determined that it does indeed have ballistospore ejection of spores (via Buller’s drop in terrestrial spp)…I reiterate: how does it shed spores?–there won’t be any Buller’s drops under water! They noted airpockets and these may play a role–maybe an anti-Buller’s drop! It’s like Bizarro world with fungi; the more you look, the more surprises you find and the more rules they break.
Another question is how does the fungus get upstream? Shedding spores in a swift flowing stream would mean you’re quickly going to migrate downstream and out of the stream. So, maybe there are aquatic invertebrates or other animals that carry them upstream. Frankly, maybe the fungus relies entirely on animals for spore dispersal (zoochory) and it would not surprise me. A lot of aquatic invertebrates are grazers and “shredders” of organic material and fungi have been shown to be key parts of their diet or to be key in transforming the organic material into something they can use…maybe some of these creatures ingest the spores and vector them about in the aquatic environment. My own research has shown this to be case with some terrestrial mushroom spp.
Cool study! Maybe there are lots more aquatic mushrooms…but we simply never foray in the water. Psathyrella–again, the authors point this out–would be a good candidate genus to put forth an aquatic spp as there are many spp in the genus that live in wet areas very near to water.
February 4, 2010
I have a confession. I have developed an addiction recently. No, no, nothing like that…it’s an edible wild mushroom. The Candy Cap mushroom! I’ve enjoyed them occasionally in the past, usually at a mushroom club event and prepared in a sweet dessert sauce or pastry. And they’re very good with a surprisingly strong aroma of maple syrup or butterscotch. The season when they fruit is right now and only in a small region of North America from northern California up the coast into the Pacific NW.
This year I got a rare chance (as I live in the Midwest) to pick them on several occasions. And more importantly to learn about this curious species of Lactarius. And so began my addiction.
The first curious detail of this little mushroom is that there are actually two species of Lactarius that are called Candy Caps. Both look very similar; smaller than most species of Lactarius and a mostly dark brick red color. Lactarius rubidus occurs beneath pines and is referred to as the “true Candy Cap” by many as it has a much stronger odor and taste. The other species collected is its close relative Lactarius rufulus, which occurs beneath hardwoods. It is also tasty but less so. Curiouser still is the fact that neither (to my nose) has much of a smell when picked fresh. But upon drying, oh wow!, the fragrance is intense! So intense that, even sealed in a Ziplok bag, you can easily tell who has them.
At this year’s annual Santa Cruz (CA) Fungus Fair (which drew well over 3,000 people), the Candy Cap was a “scentsation.” Wild Mushroom purveyors were offering it for sale and all were quickly snapped up. You can purchase them dried from vendors online. Fear not, the flavor and aroma lasts and lasts—I’ve heard of herbarium specimens retaining their smell for decades! At the Fungus Fair a local vendor sold cookies of the dried delicacy that gave off an intense sweet fragrance and taste akin to butterscotch or maple syrup. Another product in heavy demand was the Candy Cap gelato. It was incredible! Another good reason to seek them out dried, rather than fresh, is that they are quite pricey when sold fresh. Even dried—when you can find them—are expensive at around $200 per pound. It’s actually not as bad as it sounds, since a big bag of them dried weighs less than an ounce and you’ll get several uses from that.
Wanting to pick your own? Better get out there FAST. No doubt there’s still plenty coming up as it’s been a very wet season on the West Coast. Around Christmas the season begins. Seasoned foragers look under madrone, live and tan oak in the Central Coast. Candy Caps grow under pine and hardwood forests in the north, according to Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. The season ends about the middle of February. Take note: since the Candy Cap has a toxic look-alike in the wild, you should bring along an expert if unfamiliar with picking and eating wild mushrooms.
January 30, 2010
Animals do it. Plants do it. And fungi do it…much of the time anyway. Reproduce sexually. If you sat through Biology 101 (as did I) you no doubt learned that despite its drawbacks (energetically expensive, dangerous with predators always lurking nearby), there are big advantages to sexual reproduction. Namely, it’s how living organisms come about genetic variability…which drives evolution.
Still, there is one group of tiny organisms that have shed the yoke of sexual reproduction–millions of years ago. And they’ve not succumbed to evolutionary pressures. And for a long time scientists have asked HOW? And how–without genetic recombination–have these little guys been able to keep from being wiped out entirely by their arch nemesis: FUNGI? (That’s the fungal mycelium emerging from the rotifer in the picture.)
Bdelloid rotifers are freshwater invertebrates that abandoned sexual reproduction millions of years ago. Coming out next week in the prestigious journal Science, a team of researchers at Cornell University show that cultured populations of bdelloids can rid themselves of a deadly fungal parasite through complete desiccation (anhydrobiosis) and disperse by wind to establish new populations in its absence. Thus, their results may help to explain the persistence of the anciently asexual Bdelloidea.
But wait…there’s more! Check out this link to watch a really cool movie of Rotifers getting eaten alive by their fungal predotors. Strict mycophiles only…not for the mycophobic! (It’s actually really amazing to watch!)
http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10266
January 21, 2010
Check out friend of Fungi magazine and mushroom expert David Campbell of Mycoventures as he cooks on a Bay Area (California) tv program. Wow, I can almost smell the mushrooms! Feel like going on a truffle adventure in Europe or searching the West for boletes? Check out his site.
Here’s the link to the cooking show:
http://www.mycoventures.com/MycoVentures/Home.html
January 6, 2010
What food group are mushrooms in? -Marjie M.
Marjie:
Ha!…that’s a very good question, if speaking strictly biologically. Their chemical makeup would likely favor them being placed with vegetables as they are mostly water and fiber (albeit different fiber than that of plants), plus some important nutrients. But their reason for being–to put it teleologically–would make one want to place them with the fruits, as they are devices for the purpose of sexual reproduction, as are true fruits of plants (including tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and eggplants, thus anything with seeds). But, evolutionarily speaking, fungi are more closely related to animals like us (than they are to plants)…so does that more correctly place them in the meats group? Something to ponder indeed.
I’ll have to put this to the readership of FUNGI magazine! Thanks!
By the way, my own diet would likely raise eyebrows…I’ve my own personal Four Food Groups (essential to me, anyway), for which Irish coffee is about the only single food item containing all four: fats, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol.
-Britt
November 24, 2009
Without a doubt, the most asked questions at mushroom forays each year are: Is it edible?, Where do you find morels?, and Should I pick or cut wild mushrooms?
Whether to pick or pull mushrooms, or to cut them first, has become a great concern in our ever sustainability-minded citizenry. I, for one, am glad to see more and more people showing greater reverence for our environment around us. Likewise there is also some concern with over-harvesting wild mushroom patches and, thus, depleting a source of future woodland succulents.
So, let’s hear it from you mycophiles out there. Do you pull or cut your mushrooms and what are your thoughts on either method of harvest?
November 5, 2009
In Chattanooga Free Press October 29, 2009
Dear Sir:
I was recently alerted to a Letter written by a reader of your newspaper. He was describing wild mushrooms on his lawn and that no one knows why they sometimes occur in “Fairy Rings.”
The fairy ring phenomenon has actually been well understood–at least to science–for hundreds of years. However it does clearly point out just how poorly educated the public is about fungi. I blame our schools; most groups of living organisms get good coverage during one’s school years but not so with fungi–despite the fact that many fungi are integral to our day to day lives and in fact crucial to our very existence.
As Publisher of a mycology journal (with academic and amateur readership), I’m currently attending the Seattle Mushroom Fair and am impressed at the knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, wild mushrooms and other fungi out here. The populace of the Pacific NW has a well known attachment to wild fungi and wild mushrooms contribute quite a bit to the local economy.
Britt A Bunyard
Publisher and Editor in Chief,
Fungi magazine
bbunyard@wi.rr.com
www.fungimag.com
November 4, 2009
Here’s something you can try at home!
Tim Geho of the South Carolina Mycological Society recently contacted me with a report that I found hard to be true. And I had to try for myself.
Depending on where you live, you’re likely to be finding tons of shaggy mane mushrooms right now. Many relish them for their mushroomy goodness…alas, what to do if you don’t want to eat them all up within a few hours of picking? We’ve all returned to the fridge the next day, only to find our big bowl of beautiful shaggy manes transformed overnight into a big bowl of oozing mushrooms and black ink. Not an appetizing sight. Fungi are packed with enzymes to digest the substrate that the fungus is growing in (even the fruitbody itself), so most mushrooms are quite ephemeral. Inky caps, shaggy manes, and their kin are the champs when it comes to evanescent life spans.
The reason this mess occurs so quickly has to do with this mushroom’s interesting way of getting its spores distributed. Spore discharge in Coprinus-like species is tricky business, as the gills are packed so incredibly close together. To get around this problem, the mushroom deliquesces or digests itself, beginning with the margin of the cap. As it deliquesces, the margin rolls back on itself to reveal and spread apart the gills on the under surface, which fire away, releasing black spores to the winds.
If only there were a way to slow down or even to halt the self-digestion of this mushroom so that the eager picker could savor her bounty over several days. Well, maybe there is. Tim told me that he suspected fruitbody development and auto-digestion could be slowed in the absence of oxygen. To test this, he placed shaggy mane mushrooms into a jar that he filled with the inert gas nitrogen, then sealed it up. Sure enough, mushrooms in the nitrogen filled jars far outlasted those placed in untreated jars. Presumably, it’s the oxygen in the air around us that allows for regular cellular processes to go forth and that in its absence, mushroom development and decay is slowed. I tried this for myself and can say that it definitely does work! But the results are not so significant for fully developed mushrooms. It’s likely that the maturation process is already too far along to halt, much like in fruit formation in flowering plants. In Angiosperm fruit production, it’s mostly the seed that controls ripening; seeds not allowed to develop usually have little effect on fruit formation and ripening, and methods to keep fruit fresh (I am intentionally avoiding the term “ripe”) in storage long term often employ this fact. It’s likely that the spores are calling the shots with Coprinus. I was able to keep shaggy mane mushrooms for about one week in jars—and they looked about as good as the day I picked them—so long as they were very immature when picked (cap tightly closed and no sign of black spores on the grey gills).
October 29, 2009
Into the Cascades
“Watch for humps of duff. The soil will very often be humped up, so be on the lookout…you’ll often find matsutakes hidden underneath,” Cathy called out to me as she as she overturned a pile of leaves with her foot.
It’s a useful tip, but I’d already found—and picked—several of the elusive mushrooms. Matsutake mushrooms, Tricholoma magnivelare to mycologists, are just about the most highly prized gilled mushroom on the planet. In Japan, where matsutake is king, a single prized specimen can sell for fifty to one hundred dollars or more! North Americans go to great lengths to find them as well, and the Pacific Northwest is the most fertile hunting grounds for them (though the mushrooms can range across the northern parts of the continent). And when I say “Pacific Northwest” that’s about as specific as I can be, as I was sworn to secrecy by my companions. I was about to find out why this spot was so cherished for its matsutake production.
I was in Seattle as an invited lecturer at the 46th annual Puget Sound Mushroom Show. My host, Patrice Benson (President of the Puget Sound Mycological Society), had asked if I might be interested in taking part in a matsutake mushroom foray with some club members after the show ended on Sunday. I jumped at the offer, literally. I think I jumped up out of my chair. Previously, I could recall only seeing one or two matsutakes at any one time and always found completely by accident while foraying for other late summer or fall species.
I eagerly greeted Scott and Marian Maxwell in the driveway of Patrice’s Seattle home, mug of strong coffee in hand. A cold, steel rain fell steadily. And had been ever since I’d arrived in town Thursday. The Maxwells assured me that the soggy, cool conditions might just bode well for a hefty harvest of fall mushrooms.
Now is where the story gets weird. I’m an inveterate mushroom forager and have picked mushrooms in just about every corner of North America and beyond. And in every season and during all sorts of weather conditions. I’m usually ready for anything. However, I was more than a little surprised when Scott asked me to come around to the back of the van.
“Here, try this out and see if it’s your size.” He held a ten-speed bicycle by the seat post. Clearly, the astonished look on my face begged an explanation.“Where we’re headed is pretty far in…a few miles off the road. The bikes will get us to the mushrooms much quicker than on foot.”
“But won’t we get soaked and muddy in this weather?”
“Yeah. Of course we will. But it’ll probably keep the commercial pickers in for the day and we just might be able to beat them to the mushrooms.”
“Then let’s go—I think that bike’s just my size!”
Next stop was to pick up two more members of the Puget Sound club, and expert mushroomers in their own right, Cathy and Don Linnebacker. They were readying their bicycles when we pulled up to their house. Bathroom brakes for all and a top up on our coffees and two cars set out for the mountains.
The rain fell harder as we began our ascent of the west side of the Cascade Range. And it became very foggy at higher elevation. Scott and Marian told me that it was very likely that the rain would taper off by the time we reached our destination on the eastern side of the Cascades where it is perpetually drier.
My hosts stopped for lunch at a small camping area where the main road crossed a small creek. I had already eaten my lunch—a variety of fatty offerings from the heated case at a last chance gas station—en route, so I immediately set about in search of anything fungal growing in the hard packed soil. Several species of boletes and Russulas were quickly spotted from seemed unlikely habitat.
And after just a couple of minutes, I excitedly called out, “Matsutake!” I plucked it from the soil and sniffed it just to be sure. It was a matsutake all right. There’s no mistaking that intoxicating smell…like no other in the mushroom world. We found a dozen or more matsutakes right there under the picnic tables of the campsite. What a way to start the day. But the day was only beginning…
October 28, 2009
Ron Mann’s award winning indie movie, Know Your Mushrooms, continues to thrill audiences across N America. Check here for trailers. http://www.sphinxproductions.com/films/mushrooms/
And you can listen to the opening song from the movie “Anything You Say, I Believe You” by The Flaming Lips. Great song! (I love the Flaming Lips!) This song is on their latest album, now on Billboard’s Top 10!
http://www.myspace.com/flaminglips
