Yearn to Wander
Mushrooms Galore in Alberta, BC, and Washington
Fungi are fascinating, as I discovered while hiking in Alberta and British Columbia.
A wide variety of wild mushrooms showed up during my daily hikes in Alberta. Several changed noticeably from one day to the next. That caused me to check briefly online. Then a friend, Maret, told me that she and her husband are amateur mycologists, mushroom experts, and always take a mushroom guide on vacation. So, as I learned a little I began to discover how fascinating they can be.
Mushrooms are part of the Fungi Kingdom, a separate kingdom from plants and animals. At one time they were part of the Plant Kingdom, even though they have more characteristics related to animals. As scientists learned more about organisms' characteristics, Fungi separation was first proposed in 1969. Fungi are organisms that lack chlorophyll and feed on organic matter for their nutrients.
Mushrooms are the fleshy fruiting body of a fungus, usually above ground. A mushroom is similar to an apple with the tree part underground. Some wild mushrooms look similar to the cultivated mushrooms we buy in the grocery stores. But some are toxic and can't be eaten, if you want to tell about it tomorrow, or maybe even in an hour or two. Some of those which are edible have toxic look alikes that even experts debate identification. So, in light of those debates, I don't eat what I find in the woods, and discourage anyone else doing it.
Identification is complex. It requires distinguishing the cap's size, texture; the stem's size, length, thickness, shape, base; the odor; the gills' blades, attachment; spore print color; latex presence or absence; staining reaction; among many other characteristics. Plus many characteristics change as the mushroom ages, and as the precipitation and air temperature vary.
Mushrooms have three forest roles: decomposers, parasites, and symbionts. Decomposers aid the natural breakdown of a fallen tree; parasites live off a living plant, and frequently kill it; symbionts have a mutually beneficial relationship with their host.
Context of the mushrooom can help with identification. Their forest role helps place them in that context. For example, some assist Engleman Spruce decompose. So they will be found at the base of a spruce, but not a Birch. A different mushroom would be found next to a Birch.
Maret told me about making spore prints to help identify them: turn the cap face down on a piece of paper and cover it with a bowl for twenty-four hours. The spores fall to the paper and the color of their print helps identify the specie. And yes, spore prints are used in art, too.
For me, the fascination with mushrooms comes from the variety of species, the pioneer nature of their kingdom, and the complexity and delicacy of their construction. Will I become a mycologist? Probably not even an amateur, but ...
By the time we got to BC, I'd learned a VERY little about mushrooms. They interested me enough that I went to part of the Sixth Annual 2010 Sicamous Fungi Festival, a week long festival of lectures, hikes, and conversations about fungi, but mostly mushrooms. PhD mycologists, botanists, and biologists, students, naturalists, and local and distant citizens participated. Many BC residents were well aware of their rich mushroom population and were happy to share it. Sicamous neighbors invited us hikers into their yards so our hike leader, Paul, a mycology researcher with the BC Department of Forestry, could tell them, and us, about their special mushrooms. Sicamous is a town on the eastern edge of Shuswap Lake, a well-known glacial lake shaped like an addled 'H' in Southern Interior BC (also mentioned in the Salmon Run entry) from which we hiked for an afternoon.
BC has more mushrooms than anywhere in the world because they have more above-ground plants than anywhere in the world. Their broad range of climate and terrain allow the variety. Looking for mushrooms certainly added intrigue and pleasure to any hike. Learning about them has been fun. I will miss seeing them as I hike. But until we return to the Pacific Northwest of the US/Southwest of Canada, I have lots to learn from books and others. Just learning to identify them is a challenge, but learning how they function can be exciting, too.
One last point: since I don't eat wild mushrooms, do I pick them? Only on private property and with permission. Why? If I pick them them, I may destroy the organism, and certainly the next person's enjoyment of them. That goes for everything I find in nature except trash. But I photograph LOTS of them -- over a gig's worth!
Here's hoping you enjoy some of the photographs, and a little I've learned, from tens of hikes in Alberta, BC, and Washington.
Mushrooms are part of the Fungi Kingdom, a separate kingdom from plants and animals. At one time they were part of the Plant Kingdom, even though they have more characteristics related to animals. As scientists learned more about organisms' characteristics, Fungi separation was first proposed in 1969. Fungi are organisms that lack chlorophyll and feed on organic matter for their nutrients.
Mushrooms are the fleshy fruiting body of a fungus, usually above ground. A mushroom is similar to an apple with the tree part underground. Some wild mushrooms look similar to the cultivated mushrooms we buy in the grocery stores. But some are toxic and can't be eaten, if you want to tell about it tomorrow, or maybe even in an hour or two. Some of those which are edible have toxic look alikes that even experts debate identification. So, in light of those debates, I don't eat what I find in the woods, and discourage anyone else doing it.
Identification is complex. It requires distinguishing the cap's size, texture; the stem's size, length, thickness, shape, base; the odor; the gills' blades, attachment; spore print color; latex presence or absence; staining reaction; among many other characteristics. Plus many characteristics change as the mushroom ages, and as the precipitation and air temperature vary.
Mushrooms have three forest roles: decomposers, parasites, and symbionts. Decomposers aid the natural breakdown of a fallen tree; parasites live off a living plant, and frequently kill it; symbionts have a mutually beneficial relationship with their host.
Context of the mushrooom can help with identification. Their forest role helps place them in that context. For example, some assist Engleman Spruce decompose. So they will be found at the base of a spruce, but not a Birch. A different mushroom would be found next to a Birch.
Maret told me about making spore prints to help identify them: turn the cap face down on a piece of paper and cover it with a bowl for twenty-four hours. The spores fall to the paper and the color of their print helps identify the specie. And yes, spore prints are used in art, too.
For me, the fascination with mushrooms comes from the variety of species, the pioneer nature of their kingdom, and the complexity and delicacy of their construction. Will I become a mycologist? Probably not even an amateur, but ...
By the time we got to BC, I'd learned a VERY little about mushrooms. They interested me enough that I went to part of the Sixth Annual 2010 Sicamous Fungi Festival, a week long festival of lectures, hikes, and conversations about fungi, but mostly mushrooms. PhD mycologists, botanists, and biologists, students, naturalists, and local and distant citizens participated. Many BC residents were well aware of their rich mushroom population and were happy to share it. Sicamous neighbors invited us hikers into their yards so our hike leader, Paul, a mycology researcher with the BC Department of Forestry, could tell them, and us, about their special mushrooms. Sicamous is a town on the eastern edge of Shuswap Lake, a well-known glacial lake shaped like an addled 'H' in Southern Interior BC (also mentioned in the Salmon Run entry) from which we hiked for an afternoon.
BC has more mushrooms than anywhere in the world because they have more above-ground plants than anywhere in the world. Their broad range of climate and terrain allow the variety. Looking for mushrooms certainly added intrigue and pleasure to any hike. Learning about them has been fun. I will miss seeing them as I hike. But until we return to the Pacific Northwest of the US/Southwest of Canada, I have lots to learn from books and others. Just learning to identify them is a challenge, but learning how they function can be exciting, too.
One last point: since I don't eat wild mushrooms, do I pick them? Only on private property and with permission. Why? If I pick them them, I may destroy the organism, and certainly the next person's enjoyment of them. That goes for everything I find in nature except trash. But I photograph LOTS of them -- over a gig's worth!
Here's hoping you enjoy some of the photographs, and a little I've learned, from tens of hikes in Alberta, BC, and Washington.
ms
2010-11-14
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