Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association

WINTER 2007 www.comafungi.org www.pbase.com/comafungi

President: Morrs Palmer (718) 636-6348

Morrsarian@juno.com Membership: Dianna Smith (914) 271-5209 diannasmith@optonline.net Editor: Rena Wertzer (914) 472-3575 Renawertzer@hotmail.com

Message from the President

Looking Back, Looking Forward By Morrs Palmer

Winter’s around the corner, and it’s the season to reflect on our Club – where it’s been, and where it’s going. The consensus is unanimous; it’s been a fabulous year. After a number of extremely dry years, some bordering on drought, we were blessed this year with lots of rain. The rain brought out the mushrooms, and the mushrooms brought us out in unprecedented numbers. Walks were well attended, and it’s been nice to see a healthy crop of new arrivals. I’m talking about the recent members, as well as some new mushrooms too. This reminds me of a story. My friend Gyan, from India, tells me that for much of the year, when it is hot and dry, a rainy day is looked at favorably. The big storms come during monsoon season, but for the rest of the year, the rare light shower is a blessing. In fact, people will say, “what a nice day,” and try to find the time to go on a picnic. Some of my clients are golfers, and they’re not the only ones who are miserable when it rains – especially on weekends. But we amateur mycologists love it, although it can be a little sloppy in the field, and we are happily aware of “all that the rain promises.” It wasn’t only the weather that turned out so well this year. Our annual super gathering, the Clark Rogerson Foray in Connecticut was also a success, in spite of an extended break in rains this summer in the few weeks before the event. We nevertheless found a respectable variety of mushrooms – and some interesting and even rare ones. And equally important, we had a good time communing, mycophagizing (is this a word?), and learning. In our third year at Cave Hill, we are still ironing out a few kinks, but overall it was a lot of fun. We even introduced a few peripheral activities that had favorable response, such as the marshmallow roast, and game nights. It’s great to grow and change. Although many of us helped in this massive undertaking, I believe most of us know that some work extra hard to pull it off. Don Shernoff’s contribution goes without saying, but Dianna Smith, Damon Brunette, and others were indispensable. There is a reason that things went off so smoothly. (See article below) Another special feature of our club is educational. When we walk together in the field, it’s amazing what one picks up. I’m not talking about fungi only, although our collective

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 knowledge here is truly impressive. We have many intelligent and learned members, and one only has to keep one’s ears open to acquire a great deal on any walk. Our lecture series, so ably organized by Sue Rose with help from others, is a wealth of information. These are formal opportunities to learn specifics about several important topics related to fungi. If you attended them this year, your ability to identify mushrooms isn’t the only faculty that improved. You would now better know trees and their relation to mushrooms; you would have a greater understanding of fungi from an ecological perspective, and you would have better appreciation of the history of mycology. Our recent holiday feast was a “Wow!” Of course, many come to COMA with a strong interest in cooking with fungi, and that’s certainly a big reason why so many come to our annual dinner in November. This year was great. There were lots of interesting dishes, new faces, great camaraderie, the raffle, and no disasters at all. One year we were locked out of the building until minutes before the meeting. These pot-luck dinners have their own special character. Something special happens when people share. If you haven’t been to our annual party, and if you enjoy gourmet eating and good company, I recommend coming next year. The year was a good one for us, and we should look forward to another successful year. Even if the rains don’t cooperate, we will thrive. The feasts will be there. The learning will continue. We will also have change, hopefully for the better, although not all experiments will have happy endings. I have mentioned a cookbook project for the Club, and we are still looking into the possibilities. Maybe we’ll be soliciting recipes from you soon. Many of you are aware that greeting cards with mushroom themes are being planned. They will be available through our website (comafungi.org). Unfortunately, they were not ready for this holiday past season. We are still soliciting photos. Please send your best shots to diannasmith@optonline.net. Hopefully we’ll get this up and running within the next few months. [see article in this issue, ed.]

I recommend you visit COMA’s website periodically. Leon Shernoff and Dianna Smith do a fantastic job with it, and Dianna keeps us up to date with COMA happenings – past, present, and future. Her photographs alone are worth the price of admission. We have a full plate for this year. During the winter hiatus, I would love to hear from you. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. There’s always room for improvement. There’s always need for volunteers. COMA would be nothing without its dedicated core of hard workers, and any one of us could use some additional help occasionally. If you’d like to help the Club that brings you so much, give me or any of the officers a call, and we’ll find a slot to match the time you have available. It’s a rewarding contribution. I look forward to seeing you all in the coming year. Happy trails!

Election Results Elections held after the COMA annual pot-luck dinner confirmed long-time member Morrs Palmer as our President for another year. Also re-elected for a second term are Kathy and Joe Brandt and Dianna Smith as Vice-Presidents. Don Shernoff continues as Treasurer and Peggy DeGasperis stays on as Secretary. The Membership Chairperson is Dianna Smith. Rena Wertzer is our newsletter editor, while Frank Russo assists with printing and mailing. Karen Spiak has agreed to take charge of our www.comafungi.org web pages. Our annual walks will continue to be scheduled by Damon Brunette. Dianna Smith

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

Suggestions for an Essential Mushroom Book Collection and Online Resources Since winter is an ideal time to spend looking over our favorite mushroom books, I asked Sandy Sheine, founding COMA member, long term president, and education officer, if she would put together a winter book list for us. This is a list for amateur mycologists who want to expand their mycology library. Thank you, Sandy. I hope we will all have time to curl up by a warm fire on a winter’s night with some of the books. Editor If you are past the beginner stage of learning and would like to expand your knowledge of mushrooms, here are some suggestions: First of all, frequently check www.nemf.org for new additions, especially Lincoff’s New Field Key (work in progress). NEMF is the website for the Northeast Mycological Federation, with COMA members Ursula Hoffmann the webmaster and Gary Lincoff the main contributor. Gary has a lot of informative teaching material on the website and is continually adding more. For a small personal collection of helpful and interesting books on mycology, here are some suggestions. Many of them can be found, both new and used, on Ebay – or try amazon.com and bookstores. To increase your ability to identify northeastern fungi, I recommend: Lincoff, Gary. Audubon Guide to North American Mushrooms, a “must-have” Barron,George. Mushrooms of Northeast North America, excellent descriptions, good photos Bessette, Alan, Arleen Bessette, and David Fischer, Mushrooms of Northeastern North

America, a comprehensive book, with keys and photos Bessette, Alan, William Roody, and Arleen Bessette. North American Boletes, includes keys

and photos for most Northeastern boletes Phillips, Roger. Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America, over 1000 excellent photos Roody, William. Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians, excellent photos

and descriptions For a college textbook, I recommend: Kendrick, Bryce. The Fifth Kingdom If you are interested in poisonous fungi: Benjamin, Dennis. Mushrooms, Poisons and Panaceas A delightful book on the fungus kingdom and its impact on human affairs is Hudler, George. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds Lockwood, Taylor. The Mushroom Identification Trilogy, an excellent DVD that can be purchased on Taylor’s website: www.kingdomoffungi.com Use your books to identify mushrooms on COMA walks, learn the groups, families, genera -- gradually add some of the species names to your knowledge, and next year at the COMA Foray, you can help us sort the collections. Sandy Sheine

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 In addition to Sandy’s favorites, Dianna suggests the following new book. I would like to recommend a beautiful publication put out by professional photographer and COMA member, Frank Spinelli. Entitled The Glorious Mushroom, Franks’ dreamy photographs are superbly matched by the accompanying text, which artfully combines relevant information with poetic insights. The book is an imprint of Ruder Finn Press, Inc. ISBN# 1-932646-29-9. (D.S.) There is an excellent review of this book in the most recent issue of Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming . This quarterly periodical, edited by Leon Shernoff, is informative and beautiful to look at. You can subscribe at www.mushroomthejournal.com . Remember to look at our own website, www.comafungi.org and www.pbase.com/comafungi where Dianna Smith lists our collections and puts up her marvelous photographs of our finds. We are very lucky to have this resource. A favorite book of mine is Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. It has wonderful keys, is humorous and has a sense of excitement. It does emphasize western fungi, but that doesn’t limit its usefulness. In addition, I recently received an email from Gene Yetter informing me of the work he has been doing on a database for the Northeast Foray. It is reprinted below for anyone who wants to pursue this valuable resource. (Editor) ‘I have put up on the Internet some Web pages presenting information from the Northeast Foray database that I have been working on since the late Eighties. It made sense to me that I should put up these pages to simplify for myself and for Ursula Hoffmann, Webmaster of www.nemf.org, the process of distributing Northeast Foray data. My new site, www.nemfdata.org, provides access to several Adobe reports including, for example, a complete list of fungi recorded over 30 years. Both the NEMF site and the database sites are cross-linked. In addition, the Web hosting service that I use makes available guestbook and message board features which I hope will be used by our mycological community. The site is a "work in progress" and will be revised and updated from time to time. I hope the site stimulates interest in the fungal flora of northeastern North America as well as reminding our community what a worthwhile amateur institution the Northeast Foray has become.’ Gene Yetter

Membership, Membership, Membership If you are among those who see a note on the outside of this newsletter regarding membership dues, we all hope you will choose to sign up for another year of Spores Illustrated, educational programs and forays. For the price of a bag of popcorn and a couple of cokes at the movies, you can become more informed about fungi in our lives, support a healthy pastime, and enjoy the added benefit of life-long friendships with people as interesting and unique as you are. Now that’s a good deal! Send in your membership form and a check for $20 made out to COMA now. (D.S.)

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

Our Four-Day Gathering of Old & New Friends!

COMA’s Clark Rogerson Foray

by Dianna Smith and Don Shernoff

The 2006 COMA Clark Rogerson Foray was a success with over 90 people attending the four-day event. Friends came from all over the continent including Quebec, Maine, Illinois, Long Island, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Tennessee, Connecticut and New York. As always, the foray was an ideal forum to rekindle friendships and initiate new ones – and thanks to Gary Lincoff, Sam Ristich and our guest presenters, it was also a perfect opportunity for learning more about the wild and wacky world of mushrooms and the people who love them. As our chief mycologist, Gary Lincoff was kept busy identifying the mushroom collections, leading daily walk-around-the-tables information sessions, and answering our endless questions. Sam Ristich, Ed Bosman, Roz Lowen, Leon Shernoff, Sandy Sheine, Ursula Hoffmann and others pitched in whenever they could. Despite dry weather prior to the foray and soaking rain during the foray, we managed to find almost 300 species of identifiable fungi and about 9 slime molds in the area’s mushroom-rich state parks. There were at least another 20 or so that we just didn’t have the time to identity. Perhaps the most notable specimen, found by young Hannah Rosenfelder, was a bolete that fruits on wood rather than the ground. It is appropriately named Boletus lignicolus. We had an embarrassing richness of presentations in both quantity and quality. John Rahart of the New Mexico Mycological Club talked about mushroom toxins and their effects. Elinoar Shavit spoke on truffles of Israel from an historical and scriptural perspective. Multi-talented David Work showed us a compendium of his NAMA award-winning mushroom slides. Ed Mena updated us on research methods and objectives for his company, LifePharms. Dave Rose spoke on the people involved in the growth of mycology (professional and especially amateur) in the United States. Carol Levine led a wild plant workshop. Gary led discussions around the display tables daily after both breakfast and dinner. Both he and Roz Lowen spoke with us on Sunday morning about our collections.

(Photo by Jerry Sheine)

Other highlights of the foray included our celebration Friday afternoon of the engagement of Roz Lowen and Ed Bosman who, incidentally, first caught each other’s eye at the previous year’s COMA foray! The two generously donated 15 lbs of Maitake grown at Franklin Farms in N. Franklin, Ct. and

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 12 liters of wine from New Hampshire for the festivities. While we dined on the delicious mushroom creations of Damon Brunette and his squad of sous-chefs, Sandy Sheine, Terry Stoleson and Connie Boredenko led celebratory remarks and remembrances commemorating the couple’s engagement. On our final evening, we celebrated the 90th (and a half) birthday of everyone’s “Mushroom Guru,” Sam Ristich. Sandy, Terry, Connie, Roz, Ed, Dorothy Spaulding and Bill Bakaitis all spoke movingly about Sam – his generosity of spirit and knowledge - and his indelible influence on amateur mycology in the northeast. Our meals were healthy and delicious thanks to JoAnn Parady and her conscientious family staff. Damon, a professional chef, took charge of afternoon mushroom cookery. Our mycophagy-tasting sessions may have been the best ever due to his original recipes and assistance from David Work, also a chef, along with Beverly Leffers, Karen Spiak, Joe and Kathy Brandt, Lou Tartaro and Lisa Solomon. Among the dishes served were: bruscetta of tomato, fennel, and lemon with cultivated maitake; spaghetti with Meripilus and rosemary; Shiitake shumai dumplings; fricasee of fresh corn, peppers and chanterelles; marinated Agaricus bisporus with crackers and summer sausage; Laetiporus nuggets; maitake croquettes with chili dipping sauce; lobster mushroom and basil rice; marinated maitake salad with peppers and cauliflower; Beech rooters (Xerula furfuracea) with garlic; wild mushroom caponata on toast; and heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella. As if that were not enough, Roger Wilson arranged to have a renowned local cheese-making business bring samples of their specialties for all to test. Juices, beer, Chardonnay, White Zinfandel and Merlot wines helped slake our thirst and foster conversation. In our ‘down’ time, some found a few moments to throw horseshoes, take a swim or toss basketballs at the hoops. After the evening programs, a few stayed up till 1:00AM playing ‘Scrabble’ or ‘Go.’. Others camped outside our rooms on benches to share mushroom memories and dreams of future gatherings with each other. On the final night, we congregated around the new Cave Hill fire pit and roasted marshmallows before returning to the dining hall for the live auction led by Leon Shernoff. As always, the tchochka auction was hilarious as Leon kidded and cajoled us to buy assorted mushroom paraphernalia. This auction raised over $300 for COMA, while a silent auction organized by Sue Rose raised over $100. In addition, Roz Lowen, Sam Ristich and Ursula Hoffmann donated their honoraria to COMA. Their generosity is deeply appreciated. These proceeds help us keep foray fees low. Given the increasing popularity of the COMA Foray, you might think that we intend to rest on our laurels. No way! We have lots of ideas for improving this annual ‘work in progress.’ Here is a list of some of the areas we are working on in preparation for August 23-26, 2007:

1. Post sign up sheets for rides to scheduled walks. 2. Guided educational mushroom walks for participants who want them. 3. Signs to remind attendees that mycophagy tasting is just that – a tasting, not a meal! There will

be enough for everyone if we keep this in mind. 4. More knowledgeable people at the sorting tables to assist Gary and others in the identification,

display of specimens and the daily clean-up of the tables. (See article on MUSHROOM UNIVERSITY below)

5. Organization of the sorting tables and fungal categories in a way to facilitate learning. 6. Additional lighting for display room. 7. Dianna promises to contribute only one vial of Chanterelle Vodka to next year’s auction so that

Leon has time to entice everyone to bid on non-alcoholic items.

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 Overheard at the COMA Foray

Naomi Stern

COMA’S MUSHROOM UNIVERSITY! by Dianna Smith

When I was first introduced to the friendly people of COMA and their fascination with fungi, Sandy and Jerry Sheine had already moved to Michigan, and Sylvia Stein had recently died. In the four years since I have been a member, I have heard my mentors, Don Shernoff, Dave and Sue Rose, Morrs Palmer, Marge Morris, George Johanson and others, wistfully talk about how much everyone missed Sylvia and the Sheines. As COMA president, Sandy and Jerry did (and continue to do) so much for the club and both she and Sylvia knew tons about mushrooms, plants, insects, (everything really!) and were inspiring teachers to boot. I am not sure when I subsequently felt a need to help fill the knowledge gap, but a couple of years ago, I wrote a humorous article for Spores Illustrated meant to encourage members to learn a genus on their own during the winter months and become an expert and teacher in that genus. (See www.nemg.org/files/writings). Last year, president-emeritus Dave Rose and I prepared to offer weekend mini-courses in mushrooming basics to jump-start interest in this endeavor. Unfortunately, at the last minute we were not able to move forward on our project due to illness in my family. In the interim, as bedtime reading, I continued to study mushroom field guides for my own edification and also to be of help to others with mushroom identification on our walks. However, I feel that we all can take responsibility for helping new members and each other continue to learn more about the subject of our hobby. We also need to take a more active part in assisting Gary at the sorting tables during our annual Clark Rogerson Forays. We all have the potential to be experts, or at least ‘experts-in-training,’ in a genus. It is time to get educated!

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 To that end, I am thrilled to announce that Mushroom University is about to commence with our first intensive course on reading and writing keys for species of genera we commonly encounter on our walks in the NY/CT area. Our principal guide is none other than Gary Lincoff, New York Botanical Garden teacher and renowned author of numerous publications, including the mushroom Bible, ‘The Audubon Field Guide to Mushrooms of North America.’ We are fortunate to have his invaluable assistance. Gary agreed to meet with us approximately every other week for up to 10 sessions. During our first session students will get practice by working up a key on the genus Amanita – using photographs to devise our first key and create a presentation. Thereafter, participants will work together in groups of two or three people on one of a number of select genera for which we have sample keys available to use for guidance. At alternate meetings, Dave Rose, perhaps with minor support from me, will assist us in further understanding mushroom stature types and mushroom terminology. We will both also help members of each group stay focused and successfully complete their research and final project. At the last session, each group will give a presentation of their key to deciphering species within their selected genus, so that we all can learn from each other! Attending COMA student-experts will have further opportunities to teach us all about the genus they know best during club walks, at COMA meetings and our annual foray. The course on keys starts Saturday, February 10th and ends on April 7th or 14th. We will meet weekly for 9-10 sequential Saturday sessions from 12:00 Noon to 2:00 PM. Due to space constrictions, enrollment is limited to 12-15 students, on a first come – first served basis. Interested members are encouraged to contact me promptly by e-mail or phone to reserve placement at COMA’S first MUSHROOM UNIVERSITY session. (If you really want to be part of MUSHROOM UNIVERSITY, but cannot join us for this session, please be assured that we will be offering courses again).

Parenthetically, Gary believes in us so much that he generously offered to work with us without pay. Despite his magnanimous offer, COMA nevertheless intends to properly compensate Gary for sharing his time and expertise with us. We are requiring a non-refundable $50 fee in the form of a check made out to COMA to help sponsor this and future educational programs. We will be meeting each Saturday for the course duration at Rena Wertzer’s home in Scarsdale, N.Y. Participants should bring a notebook, pen or pencil, a stack of 4X6 cards, and all your best field guides for reference. We will have numerous additional field guides and materials on hand for research. Dianna Smith 30 Fox Run Road Croton on Hudson NY 10520 (914) 271-5209 diannasmith@optonline.net

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

Margaret’s Adventure through the Looking Glass

by Steve Rock

You never know what’s going to create or increase someone’s mycological interest, do you?

My wonderful wife, Margaret, has been entirely supportive of my mushrooming hobby and my (near constant) companion on many a walk and foray. She’s endured my wailing and lamentation during prolonged periods of dry weather, put up with my investment in yet another couple of much needed mushroom books, and been there to celebrate with me on those rare occasions when I’ve returned home from a walk with a full basket and the merriest of dispositions. But she’s never truly “gotten it.” Until now.

Margaret and I were in the “collecting room” at this year’s COMA Clark Rogerson foray, and Margaret decided, after sampling one, to purchase a hand lens. What a portal this opened up for her – like stepping through Alice’s looking glass! She started to view fungal features that she’d never seen before – little “hairs” on stipes, “teeth” in tiny slimy things (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum), gill attachments – and wondered about all that she hadn’t seen in the years that she’s been enjoying mainly the non-fungal aspects of COMA walks and events.

A short while later, our friends Dana and Joe returned from their walk and proceeded to set up their own private identification workshop on the picnic table outside their cabin. Marg and I joined them and, between the four of us, using 5 or 6 different mushroom identification books that our Rhode Island friends had wisely brought with them (and hand lenses, of course), we identified a bunch of shrooms that none of us had known before we’d gotten started. It was fascinating, exciting and fun!

Two days later Marg and I went for a walk in Fahnestock State Park and carefully collected specimens of about a dozen different mushrooms. On the way home, Marg suggested that we lay them out (foray-style), round up a bunch of our mushroom books and attempt to identify what we found on our own. So I set up a card table on our enclosed front porch, broke out some paper plates, and laid out our new collection. It took a bit of doing, but our first positive ID of Cantharellus minor took us about 20 minutes. Buoyed by this success, we continued, and in just over an hour we had also identified the beautiful Entoloma salmoneum and Lactarius subpurpureus (discovering during the process that not all Lactarii exude milk, and that some species’ gills stain green when bruised) and (edible!) Boletus pallidus. It took us over an hour, poring over the books, charts and other resources that we’d acquired over the years, but it was as much fun and just as exciting doing it on our own as it had been at the foray! We learned four mushrooms that day, the Sam Ristich way – “one at a time!”

Imagine my delight when, all of a sudden, Marg informed me that we don’t have enough books! After working with Dana and Joe, we just HAD to have Orson Miller’s North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi and Bill Roody’s Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians, so Amazon got a quick order from me this morning. And guess who’s excited that there is another good soaking rain in the forecast for today and a 3-day weekend coming up? Yup – we’ve got her! And I’m grinning like the Cheshire Cat!

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

Hens! Hens! Help Me!

by Steve Rock

Saturday morning, September 30th, 2006 started with bright sunny skies and a nice bracing chill in the air – a perfect day to go out hiking and looking for mushrooms. For me, good omens abounded – I was up early, had my usual Saturday breakfast at Magnolia’s in Carmel (where they serve the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted), the songs on the radio seemed especially appropriate and, upon exiting the eatery, I spotted a gorgeous classic Corvette, vintage circa 1969, candy apple red, parked right next to my car. I had just enough time to indulge myself a bit, so I sat there for a few minutes and gazed fondly upon this gorgeous piece of machinery.

Then it was off to Sylvan Glen in Yorktown Heights, where I was scheduled to lead a COMA mushroom walk. I arrived there 20 minutes early and spent a few minutes copying the trail map to the satellite image of the area that I’d downloaded the day before. I recalled gratefully as I did so that the trails at Sylvan Glen were blazed and are maintained by the members of Boy Scout Troop 174 of Yorktown, NY (http://bsatroop174.tripod.com/), who also erected the educational kiosk and trail map at the trail head. Thank you scouts!

Soon the first of the club members arrived, and before long Dianna Smith has taken a “before” picture of the group and we were heading down the trail into Sylvan Glen.

Going off with baskets to fill

I’d set a rather ambitious agenda, even though it did not include a climb up the hill on the blue trail, and hoped we would cover enough ground to find a significant number of fungal species while hunting the day’s main quarry: Grifola frondosa. I knew from experience (I walk these trails often) that we had very good potential to find the “hen of the woods” (also known as “maitake”) here – COMA walks in previous years had yielded good quantities of this delicious and medicinal edible. The timing was excellent, the recent rains and weather conditions were conducive, and we had about 15 pairs of eyes that would be eagerly scanning the bases of oak trees.

The Glen did not disappoint. In fact, the group had such excellent initial success finding a variety of fungal species (in genera Lactarius, Russula, Entoloma, Amanita, and more) that it was difficult to motivate some of them (YOU know who you are!) to move on to other areas. We regrouped, and Dianna agreed to take half of the group along the trail while I led the other half off trail, to rendezvous a bit further on. I tromped up the right side of the hill as others took the center and left flanks. I ventured off to the right, into an area I had not previously explored (one of the benefits of leading COMA walks in venues that are difficult to completely explore when on your own), and soon came across an oak tree sporting two lovely hens at its base. A bit further on, I came upon another oak with the largest hen I’d ever encountered. It was past its prime and not worth harvesting, but I was delighted to photograph it nonetheless. As it turned out, there were a couple of much younger

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 specimens on the other side of the tree! Before long, I had two large shopping bags full of maitake and an even bigger grin on my face.

Other club members had similar good fortune on this hill. We found each other, celebrated our good fortune, and set out to meet up with the rest of the club. Not entirely sure where I was at that point, it took only a call out to Dianna and her response to verify that we were indeed heading in the right direction. When we arrived at the trail, I suggested that we stash what we’d collected to that point, to free us up to carry more should our run of luck continue. This idea was not universally popular, but I convinced the most reluctant that a large tree and some leaves would serve to protect our harvest, so off we went with free hands and hopeful hearts.

A trip through a stand of conifers was the only disappointment of the day – this area’s consistent shortage of fungal fruit bodies continues to perplex me. In an area that I would suspect would be abundant with Boletus, Suillus and Leccinum species, we found only one Tylopilus specimen and little else. Fortunately the oak trees along the path to the base of the hill provided a bit more in the way of choice edible frondosa, which we gathered before heading back whence we came.

Tylopilus

Our first hen of the day.

By then it was past 11:30, so the group decided to just follow the trail back to the parking lot instead of exploring the side trail that was available to us. We returned to our fungal cache on the way, and continued to hunt in the woods along the trail. Sure enough, one couple found their first ever hen of the woods just as the walk was nearing its end. Everyone returned to base with a good supply of hen – it had gotten to the point where you could not give away additional quantities anyone. Now THAT’S a good day of ‘shrooming! You’d think that this is where the story would end, right? And, you know, you’re correct – this is where it should have ended –and it would have, for any reasonable person. But it didn’t, because it was only Noon and I knew there was more out there and that I didn’t have to be home until 2:00. I’d given away most of what I’d collected and wanted more – more, dammit, more! It’s a sickness, I know. I’m infected and quite possibly a carrier (a fact you might want to keep that in mind for future reference).

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 I bid farewell to my club fellows who were quite sanely enjoying some well-earned rest, their

lunches and the identification workshop, and headed back into the woods, intending to climb the blue trail and locate a couple of trees up there that have a history of producing Grifola frondosa. This place and I go way back, and as I trotted along the trail to the blue trail (yes, I said “trotted” - I’m obviously in the advanced stages of this disease), I recalled how my friend and mentor Marge Morris had called me one day, years ago, to tell me that she’d just read an article about a new park in Yorktown that we should go to visit, and how we’d explored the place both on our own and with members of COMA over the years. I missed her as I scrambled up the short-cut to the top of the hill that I’d first navigated with Marge.

Within seconds I’d found hens growing between the granite rocks just a few feet from the base of an oak tree. “What an interesting photograph that will make” I thought as I hastily checked my watch and broke out my digital camera. With a couple of shutter clicks and a couple of slices with my pocketknife I was once again off on the trail. I hadn’t even gotten to my intended trees and I was already carrying a bag of hen! That didn’t stop me from scanning every tree I passed, though, did it? No-ooooo.

I went off trail until I spotted the first tree I sought and, sure enough, there were seven or eight hens around it, in varying degrees of freshness. I had never before been in the situation where I had to cherry-pick only the freshest specimens – I was giddy with the thrill of it. I bagged several excellent ones, picked up my two loads and moved on. The next tree was not too far along – it had a similar quantity of hens encircling it, and these were even fresher than the ones I’d just harvested. Should I leave some of the others, and just take these? As it turns out, it wasn’t a matter of “should” – I simply couldn’t. Click-slice-bag; click-slice-bag – on and on it went, like a wonderful, wonderful dream. Just as I thought I was finishing up, I glanced to my left to see anther gorgeous young fresh hen at the base of another tree! Where would it end?!

Baskets overflowing with Grifola frondosa

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 When I came to my senses, I had a real dilemma. I had bagged about as much hen as I could

carry any reasonable distance, there were still more trees to check, and I was about as far away from my car as it’s possible to be on the marked trails of Sylvan Glen. Do I retrace my steps, or carry onward on my intended path? (Note that it never entered my mind to leave any of the hens behind.) It is not without a degree of shame that I admit that the lure of even more maitake determined my path, and forward I went.

By this time I’d been forced to stuff a large amount of hen in a garbage bag (it was the only bag I had with the capacity for it), which I carried in my right hand – the rest was in a ready-to-burst shopping bag in my left. Now here is excellent evidence of the degree to which I suffer from this fungal infection of mine – I could not carry the larger bag in my left hand because I will soon be undergoing surgery to correct a painful problem in my left shoulder! The pain was significant enough to prevent me from carrying the garbage bag over either of my shoulders (“Santa style”), but not enough to cause me to simply not use my left arm to carry a large quantity of mushrooms through a mile or more of hilly woods! I’m sick! Somebody help me!

The return trip was taken in bursts of about one hundred paces connected by short respites to catch my breath and flex my hands. As I type this I can still feel the tingling in the tip of the baby finger on my right hand – no doubt nerve damage from having its blood supply cut off by a thin strand of plastic shopping bag handle stretched to its capacity. I continued this way, occasionally gazing longingly into the woods, certain that I was bypassing enough precious maitake to fend off colds and flu for years and years to come. But by now I was under the gun to get back to my car by 1:30 and just HAD to get these mushrooms home to my skillet. I was determined to use these hens to bolster my immune system, even if it killed me!

Biggest Hen (Grifola frondosa)

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 Once down the large hill that completes the blue trail, it dawned on me (as I faced the prospect

of going over yet another hill) that the only things in my backpack were more bags! I took a few minutes to shift some of the load to my back and, so balanced, was able to finish the hike to the parking lot with no further stops for rest. I loaded up the trunk, climbed in and started up the car – the clock on the dash read exactly 1:30! I did my best Sam Ristich impersonation as I yelled “Hallelujah!”

This called for a celebration. I checked my supply of CDs and was glad to see that it included my copy of Rejoice, by Pharoah Sanders, which contains a cut called “Nigerian Juju Highlife” – a perfect celebratory song. I popped in the CD and started home. “Highlife” came on as I drove through Jefferson Valley – I can only imagine the reactions of other drives as they heard this song belting out of a car driven by what surely appeared to be a madman who was whooping and hollering along with the song as he laughed his head off. It was great.

Now I really COULD be Santa Claus! I stopped at my barber’s shop on the way home and presented him with a nice bag of hens. He smiled, thanked me, and asked where I’d found them. Knowing he’d ask, I was prepared with the perfect answer: “Outside.” I just laughed more and exited as he pressed for details. My neighbors love this mushroom, but they were out preparing for Mahopac’s Columbus Day Parade and the feast that always follows it, so I left the bag hanging from their front doorknob to greet them when they finally got home. The waitress at Magnolia’s, Mimi, has been enjoying her introduction to wild mushrooms this year, so she received a five-pound bag. Other friends and co-workers will benefit as well from the season’s bounty. After two solid hours of hen-cooking last night, there’s still more to go around!

What a day.

I wonder - will next weekend be as good? Help me!!!! (Photos- Steve Rock and Dianna Smith)

Mushrooms a Top Source for Antioxidant* Using a new, more sensitive-testing approach they developed for fungi, Penn State food scientists have found that mushrooms are a better natural source of antioxidant ergothioneine than either of the two dietary sources previously believed to be best. The researchers found that white button mushrooms, the most commonly consumed kind in the U.S., have about 12 times more of the antioxidant than wheat germ and 4 times more than chicken liver, the previous top rated ergothioneine sources based on available data. Until Penn State researchers developed their testing approach, know as an assay, there was no method employing the most sensitive modern instrumentation and analytical techniques to quantify the amount of ergothioneine in fungi. The researchers say that their assay can be used for other plants, too, not just mushrooms. Joy Dubost, doctoral candidate in food science, who conducted the study, says, “Numerous studies have shown that consuming fruits and vegetables which are high in antioxidants may reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Ergothioneine, a unique metabolite produced by fungi, has been shown to have strong antioxidant properties and to provide cellular protection within the human body.” Dubost detailed the new assay and the amounts of ergothioneine in the most common and exotic mushrooms typically available in U.S. food stores in a paper presented at the 230th American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. Her paper is “Identification and Quantification of Ergothioneine in Cultivated Mushrooms by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy.”

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006 The Penn State researchers found that among the most commonly consumed mushrooms, portabellas and criminis have the most ergothioneine, followed closely by white buttons. A standard 3-ounce USDA serving of these mushrooms, about the amount you’d put on a cheese steak or mushroom-topped burger, supplies up to 5 milligrams. The exotic mushrooms have even more ergothioneine. The same standard serving of shitake, oyster, king oyster or maitake (hen of the woods) can contain up to 13 mg in a 3-ounce serving or about 40 times as much as wheat germ. Dubost notes that the levels ergothioneine do not decrease when the mushrooms are cooked. *Penn State U News Release. 8/31/05, http://www.psu.edu/ur/2005/mushrooms.html.

COMA GREETING CARD PHOTO CONTEST! By Dianna Smith

COMA member, Lisa Solomon, an attorney, enthusiastic mushroom forager and business entrepreneur, pitched an intriguing fund-raising idea to us that goes something like this. For an investment of $100, COMA will be able to sell customizable mushroom photo cards from a web-site store-front. Select any one of 30 photos of mushrooms taken by COMA members for the front. Inside the card upload any photo (fungal or otherwise) from your computer. Write your own inspired greeting - or select from a list of clever suggestions. Cards cost $2.95 each, plus postage. COMA will make $1 on each card sold through the website. For this to work, we hope that whenever you need a card for any occasion, you will think of mushrooms! If we make any money, it will be used for education projects.

Now here is where you come in. Please submit your favorite mushroom photos for our COMA card-cover contest. The judging will be made by a committee of two or three individuals who themselves will not be entering the challenge. Everyone’s submissions will be anonymous, with only a number to correlate the contributing photographer with his or her photos. To ensure that several people have an equal opportunity to be among the ‘winners,’ no one photographer can have more than five winning photos. Understand that by entering the contest, you agree that COMA has a right to publish your photo/s on these cards. The artist will be given credit on the back of the card along with the COMA logo and a link to our web site. So, all you photographers in the club, please e-mail me (diannasmith@optonline.net) your favorite photos in their original resolution as soon as possible – or send the photos to me on a CD, so I can attach a number to them and send them on to the evaluating committee. We aim to have this project up and running over the winter, so get those submissions in! Incidentally, continue sending photos you are especially proud of over the years, as we will periodically change the selections.

WINTER WALK!!

Carol Levine will be leading a walk on identifying plants in winter on Sunday,1/28/07. Meet at 10 am at Muscoot Park to join Saw Mill River Audubon. Look at birds, plants,

winter mushrooms. Can we find a better way to spend a winter day? (Walk will be cancelled if weather turns bad.)

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Spores Illustrated Winter 2006

EXTRA! EXTRA!

READ ALL ABOUT COMA ELECTION RESuLTS Please Mail in Your Membership Renewal Form Today and Support the

Educational Programs of COMA! (Deadline is February)

For a copy of the Membership Renewal Form, download it at www.comafungi.org, e-mail diannasmith@optonline.net or call Dianna at 914-271-5209.

COMA 8 Coralyn Road Scarsdale, NY 10583

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