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BAMS Monthly Meeting

Mikhael Crystallah-Selk: Mushroom Parasites
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, March 26 | 7:30 - 9:30 pm


Mikhael Crystallah-Selk

This talk will cover Achlorophyllous plants, Fungal Molds, and other Fun Gis that just can't seem to live without each other. All photos were taken by me throughout California and Oregon. These plants and fungi truly opened my eyes to the intricacies of symbiosis. I'm excited to share my finds and see what piques your interests!

Mikhael is SOMA Science Committee Chairman, fungal ID expert, principal responder on the SOMA Poison Control Hotline, Sous Chef at Della Fattoria, and iNaturalist contributor with 4202 Observations and counting! He is also admin on dozens of Facebook groups.

Fifteen years ago, Mikhael blew out his back working in retail. It took him three years of physical therapy to teach himself to walk without a cane. Much of that time was spent slowly walking through the woods, where he began to pay attention to the amazing diversity of fungi surrounding him. A mild curiosity soon became a passionate new (for him) field of study. He found himself fortuitous enough to be learning from experts around the world allowing him to fast-track his studies. Since then, he has become involved in numerous local mycological clubs, and volunteers identifying mushrooms for others, online and in person. After briefly specializing in jelly fungi, he expanded his horizons to study taxonomy in general, volunteering hours per day pouring through observations. Personally chosen to take over the ID tables at their annual camp by the co-founder of SOMA, he recently returned from spending four days in the woods, putting names on hundreds of species, then arranging them by spore color, family and genus, to present to the 300 campers. All this is done in his free time, while maintaining a full-time job as chef for an award-winning bakery and diner.


Tom Volk Memorial in Mycologia

Tom Volk leading mushroom class

We just found out about this tribute to Tom in Mycologia, published last month, and written by Hal Burdsall, Dan Lindner, and Todd Osmundson. For those who didn't know him, Tom was a towering yet humble figure in North American mycology. He taught and inspired countless students as Professor of Mycology at UW LaCrosse, and volunteered thousands of hours towards helping others, whether by donating time to amateur mycology, or assisting his beloved Wisconsin marching band, Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, in ways both small (helping to feed them at events) and large (financing a food truck). Tom always had time for the "little fun guy and gal," and was beloved by everyone, not just for his scholarship but for his character. What a shining light he was, and with a wicked sense of humor, too!

Tom spoke to BAMS three times: January 2010 on polypore taxonomy; January 2014 on the secret sex lives of fungi; and January 2016 on the seven deadly sins committed by fungi. Volk was a prominent figure in the North American Mycological Association and served as Institutional Trustee for over a decade. Click here to read the memorial in Mycologia.

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Amatoxin: The Deadliest of All Mushroom Poisonings

Amanita phalloides, Debbie Viess

Debbie Viess has written a new modern treatment of amatoxin: what mushrooms contain it, mode of action, poisoning symptoms, and best treatments. Although amatoxin causes human and animal deaths around the world every year, with prompt care in a modern medical/veterinary facility, the chances of surviving and having a full recovery are quite good. Only around 12% of healthy adults poisoned will die or require a liver transplant. Without such care, human deaths are closer to 50%.

We lack good statistics for pet poisonings, but their poisonings are often more severe and more often fatal, but even in the case of dog poisonings, there are protocols available that can increase the rate of survival. To read this important new article, follow this link...


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Sex and the Single Stinkhorn

Phallus astrovolatus

Some rumors need a strong denial. In this essay, Debbie Viess obliterates the proposition put forth in a sketchy study published in an obscure journal that a species of stinkhorn may cause spontaneous female arousal. The authors' attempt to wrap this ridiculous idea in Hawaiian myth is firmly debunked. Although first published in 2001, the idea that this phenomenon is real persists and occasionally gets notice on social media sites. To read Debbie's humorous and direct response, follow this link...

This article first appeared in Mushroom the Journal, Issue 114, Volume 31, No.4, Fall 2015, p. 16.

 

Further Reflections on Amanita muscaria as an Edible Species

Amanita muscaria

Here is a thoughtful response to the current push to eat Amanita muscaria, along with a history of its treatment in field guides, its toxins, and warnings about edibility. To read the article, follow this link...

This article first appeared in Mushroom The Journal, Issue 110, Fall 2011 - Winter 2012, p. 42.

 


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The Bay Area Mycological Society (BAMS), established in 2006, is dedicated to the art and science of mushrooms. We hold our meetings at UC Berkeley. We hold local and long distance forays, participate in the Yosemite National Park Fungal Survey, and organize the Point Reyes Fungus Fairs and All California Club Forays.

We are affiliated with the North American Mycological Association. We host a lively online discussion group. Our members range from beginners to professionals in the field. We believe that everyone wants to learn, and has ideas to share. Join us.