MUSHROOMS BY SOROR RACHEL Fall and the rainy season are fast approaching and it's time to hunt the wild mushroom again. This is a sport that takes little physical strain and gets you out in the fresh air in the Fall. A sharp eye and intelligence is more important than muscles, and there is enough danger in mushroom hunting to make it an interesting sport. First a word about the danger. Mushroom poisoning fear has been blown completely out of proportion. There are only six known mushrooms that carry a deadly poison that only a few people have survived. There are many more plants than this that could kill you as well, such as the popular Dumb Cane found in many people's living rooms. It takes only a few seeds of hemlock, which grows everywhere as a common weed in Northern California and has been pointed out to me many times as wild carrot. There are other poisonous mushrooms that mainly do nasty things to your intestinal tract, but don't kill you. There is one precaution to take when gathering mushrooms. Identify each you pick as the species you think you are gathering. If the mushroom is too old or young for positive identification, leave it. Not doing this has caused more deaths than anything else. Amanitas like company and tend to grow with other mushrooms. Also in California many of the Hallucinogenics look like poisonous mushrooms. Sometimes they are of the same Genus, like Amanitas. Galerina, another deadly mushroom, can be mistaken for Psilocybe if you are more interested in getting high than in being careful. Also, some people have allergic reactions to otherwise safe mushrooms. Again, these reactions are gastric, and there are others you can't eat while consuming alcohol. Now, how to go about getting into gathering wild mushrooms. The slowest and most costly is doing it with field guides and other mushroom books. The best books to have if you plan to start this way are the following: Smith, Alexander A. "A FIELD GUIDE TO WESTERN MUSHROOMS" " " " "THE MUSHROOM HUNTER'S FIELD GUIDE (eastern U.S.)" Miller, O. "MUSHROOMS OF NORTH AMERICA" These books have good keys and excellent photographs. But, as you will find out very quickly, no mushroom will look exactly like any mushroom in the book, or there may be 2 or 3 photographs that might be the mushroom you have found. Here the key helps if you can read it, but sometimes its terminology is vague. There is a better way, and that is to find someone who is already into gathering mushrooms to show you what he knows. In this case find someone who has been doing it for a few years and eats his finds. Many older people who were born in Europe or Japan still gather mushrooms. Once someone has shown you a few and you look them up in your Field Guide, you will have a better idea of what to look for and be able to expand your knowledge. The best way I know of is to join a mushroom club. There are quite a few of them. I will give you a list at the end of this article. The one I know the most about is in the San Francisco Bay area. They have a lot of activities that you can go to without joining. They give two fairs where they exhibit mushrooms, give lectures on finding mushrooms, and answer any questions you have. These fairs tend to be very crowded. The first one is held in San Francisco at Fort Mason and costs a couple of dollars. {51} The second has been held in Oakland at the Museum and so far has been free. The other free event happens every week. This is a walk that begins at the parking lot of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park at 9AM Sunday.<> These walks begin October 1st and run through the winter and spring until the rains stop. The man who does the walks has been doing this for six years and points out all the fungi he knows, which includes edibles, toxic, and hallucinogenics. If you plan to take one of these walks bring a small kitchen knife and something to carry mushrooms in and you will go home with enough for a feast. If you want more specific knowledge, then it's worth your while to join since most of the research being done with mushrooms is done through these clubs, especially in toxicology, cultivation, taxonomy and culinary areas. MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETIES {WEH NOTE: Addresses and phone numbers possibly not current} Mycological Society of San Francisco -- P.O.Box 904, San Francisco, CA 94101 L.A. Mycological Society -- 1615 N. Beverly Glen Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90024 Phone 213-472-8520 Myco Soc. of Santa Barbara -- 3194 Via Real Carpenteria CA 93013 Oregon Mycological Society -- 6548 SE 30th Ave Portland Ore 97202 Lincoln Co. Mycological Society -- P.O.Box 94 Siletz Ore. 97380 Puget Sound Myco. Society -- 200 2nd Ave. North Seattle Wash. 98109 Spokane Mushroom Club -- 443 West 25th Ave Spokane Wash. 99203 Cercle Des Mycologial -- 1180 Rue Bleury, Montreal, P.Q. Canada H3B 3J3 Myco. Society of Toronto -- 14 Wycliffe Dr., Willowdale, Ont., Canada M2K 1V6 The British Myco. Society -- 33 Golf Course Rd., Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland, UK. Boston Mycological Club -- 15 Swain Str., Natick, MA 01760 Conn. Valley Myco. Assn. -- 169 Edwards Road, Cheshire CT 06410 New Jersey Myco. Society -- 180 Mountain Ave., Hackettstown NJ 07840 N. American Mycological Assn. -- 4245 Redinger Rd., Portsmouth OH 45662 Colorado Mycological Society -- 909 York, Denver CO 80206 North Idaho Myco. Assn., Route 5 Box 186 Post Falls ID 83854 South Idaho Myco. Assn. -- 719 Eighth Ave., So. Nampa, ID 83651 Twin Harbors Mushroom Club -- Rt 2 Box 193, Hoquiam WA 98550 New Hampshire Myco. Society -- 14 Brookline St., Nashua, NH 03060 Phone - 603-882-9375 There is also a national Newsletter that comes out of the North American mycological Assn. which gives all the news on what is being done in Mycological Research. =========