Project

Hey guys,

Hopefully someone will check this blog before class ends tonight. My daughter is sick again so I won't be able to make my project presentation. However, I did want to share what I did.

I think it was one of the first two classes that Bob mentioned the imperfections of trying to classify mushrooms. The Friesian field-based approach is primarily what mushroom identifiers use today but this system of identifying mushrooms can even break down due to the natural evolution of the world. In the last twenty-five years, with the rapid growth of technology, came the advancement of the microscopic approach, DNA sequencing. This new information resulted in a big rearrangement of the basidiomycete fungi. I've posted a website about this topic of DNA sequencing vs. the Friesian method which some of you may have already seen, but I just think it's fascinating. I think it says more about the human psyche than about our classification system that we have this need to fit everything into nice labeled boxes, including our own species.

MykoWeb--Evolution and Morphology

For my project I painted a 30x40 canvas of Haeckel's basidiomycete fungi which my daughter promptly threw up on yesterday so that today I had to put together this collage. I broke up picture into segments, because like I said before, I like that things don't fit into a nice neat box.

Enjoy!

Mycoremediation - Pollution Cure? Fungi are Adept at Decontaminating the Environment

Mycoremediation - Pollution Cure? Fungi are Adept at Decontaminating the Environment

Fungal processes that have been a part of balanced ecosystems for thousands of years may prove vital to cleaning up humanity's environmental mistakes.

 Mycoremediation (mykes, “fungus” and remedium, “a cure”) is a technique that utilizes the vegetative portion of a fungus to remove contaminants from a substrate—usually soil.

Scientists have discovered several ways in which fungi “decontaminate” their surroundings. These biological processes have been taking place for millennia; it is only recently that scientists have learned how fungal organisms remove or neutralize a myriad of substances—many of them toxic—from polluted sites.

As a fungus extends through its environment, its root-like hyphal cells form a network called a “mycelium.” A fungal mycelium excretes digestive enzymes as it grows. These enzymes break down surrounding organic matter which is then absorbed into the fungal cells for nutrition.

Fungi and Pesticides
Pesticide residues in soils represent one of agriculture's most vexing environmental problems. These contaminants--some of which are known carcinogens--often find their way into waterways and aquifers.

Researchers in Britain have demonstrated that inoculating contaminated soils with fungi enhances the degradation of multiple chemicals, such as simazine, trifluralin and dieldrin.

Fungi and Metals
Scientists at the University of Dundee in Scotland have discovered that mycorrhizal fungi can sequester uranium (from spent ammunition) discarded on battlefields.

Fungi and Watershed Protection
In his 1993 book, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms, Paul Stamets eloquently explained the concept of mycofiltration, a process whereby the mycelium of a fungus can be utilized to protect watersheds from contamination by nearby sites. In essence, a fungal mycelium can be established near a polluted area, and the network of cells will filter harmful microbes, chemicals, and even some heavy metals from the effluent leaving the contaminated site.

Though the concept of mycoremediation is in its infancy, this evolving technology holds great promise. Fungi can be introduced into a contaminated environment relatively cheaply. Once their work is completed, cleanup will be vastly simplified, because fungal metabolism leaves residues that are either harmless or significantly less toxic than the original substrate.

Yeah, we're saved!

Fungi Perfecti is Paul Stamets' website about mycoremediation and how mushrooms helped clean up an oil spill in San Francisco in 2007...

Wasn't really looking for any mushrooms today but they were everywhere on my normal walk on the upper Marquam Trail at Council Crest.

Spore Printing

Bob seemed interested in using the spore print pattern that I created when Amber ran out, so here it is for all to use. You'll need to use a program that understands DPI like Adobe Photoshop (available on the computers in the design lab in the library) to print it the right size.




I also thought i'd post some photos of one of the Amanita's that I brought to the class. Unfortunately it's color faded with age.







- Tyler the auditing guest

This is Devin,

I have a strange mushroom from a family member's greenhouse. I plan to research and bring to class soon.

Devin

Fungus-Treated Violin Outdoes Stradivarius

Fungus-treated Violin Outdoes Stradivarius

ScienceDaily (2009-09-14)



At the 27th "Osnabrücker Baumpflegetagen," a researcher's biotech violin dared to go head to head in a blind test against a stradivarius -- and won! The new violin is made of wood treated with fungus, and played against an instrument made by the great master himself in 1711. ... > read full article

Amanita Muscaria Formosa

Amber and I found a bunch of these about a mile from my house in down town Gresham. We beleive it to be Amanita Muscaria Formosa. The cap is 6 inches in diameter, and the stipe (from bottom of the cap to the bottom of the volva) is 5 inches long, and 3/4 inch thick.

- Tyler the auditing guest

Hey. I'm down in Rancho Mirage, CA and found some mushrooms. I'm blanking on their names and I couldn't bring my book.

What's Your Project About?

Hey everybody, we are due to present our projects November 20.  The 27th there is no school because of Thanksgiving then December 4 presentations and a final December 11.

I think I am going to do mine on the medicinal properties of mushrooms, or narrow it down to one particular mushroom, or just one bottle of mushroom product.  Or maybe I'll just do an artistic, musical collage of all the mushrooms we have seen over the term.  I don't know.

What is your project about?

No Class Friday the 13th!

No, Bob's not superstitious, this was a planned absence according to the syllabus.  Have a great long weekend!

See everybody November 20!

Lorian

I found Magic Land!

I found this big, beautiful Amanita on a walk by the Sandy River Delta. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I was forced to pick it.

Hey, here's what I think to be an Amanita muscaria that I plucked from my daughter's friend's yard on Friday night (I did get permission :)).

Intro to Fall Mushrooms: Slide Show

From the Evergreen State College: A Slide Show

http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/mushrooms/ifm/s1.htm

DNA Barcodes: Are They Always Accurate?

Bob is right, as usual, although it sounds crazy. 

"If at first an idea does not sound absurd, it has no hope." --Einstein

DNA Barcodes: Are They Always Right?

DNA barcoding is a movement to catalog all life on earth by a simple standardized genetic tag, similar to stores labeling products with unique barcodes. The effort promises foolproof food inspection, improved border security and better defenses against disease-causing insects, among many other applications.

International Barcode of Life

Their aim is to create a giant library full of these sequences. Scientists foresee a future handheld device like a supermarket scanner--a machine that would sequence a DNA marker from an organism, then compare it with the known encyclopedia of life and spit out the species' name.

A Very Useful Mushroom ID Key

Best Website Ever!

Mushroom Expert

laccaria amethystina

fuligo septica

(Looks like dog vomit)

Cortinarius vanduzerensis

This section has links to each step of mushroom hunting:

Studying Mushrooms

Collecting for Study

Making Spore Prints

Descriptions & Journals      

Identifying Mushrooms

Determining Odor and Taste

Pronouncing Latin Names

Testing Chemical Reactions

Preserving Specimens

Using a Microscope

Mushroom Taxonomy

Step by step mushroom features to rule out or identify. Easy!

Identification Keys          

 

Shrooming Books

This book allows for quick and easy identification of common mushrooms.

The pleasure of finding something secret, something mysterious on the forest floor, something to fill you with earthen smells and primitive tastes.

If you like mushrooms, or if you think maybe you WOULD like mushrooms, if you just got the right introduction, then this book is for you.

 

"Hold on to your hats, mushroom lovers! This beautifully illustrated guide presents descriptions and photographs of 460 of the region's most conspicuous, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms."












With a dash of humor and a dollop of science, Michael Kuo selects the top 100 mushrooms best suited for cooking. 100 Edible Mushrooms is written in the author’s inimitable, engaging, and appealing style, taking the reader on the hunt through forest and kitchen in search of mycological pleasures and culinary delights.

Some photos

I wasn't able to make it to class tonight, but was delighted to come across a small patch of amanita muscaria. They were right outside the front door of a nursing home and unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so my son and I just nabbed a couple of the prettiest ones. We photographed them at home. I also found a lovely bunch of orange mushrooms covering a stump, but am having trouble identifying them. The spores are a really dark brown. Any ideas?
Thanks. -Harmony

Just thought I would share some of the photographs of Bob and his teachable moments from last class.

Marylhurst mushrooms, found yesterday 11/5/09. Sorry I haven't had time to ID. I'll try and get to the IDing later this weekend.

Fungi Perfecti

Paul Stamets really does care a lot about the earth and her fruit, the "fungi perfecti" as he calls mushrooms.

Paul Stamets visits the most massive conk alive of Bridgeoporus nobilissimus, the Noble Polypore, growing from a old-growth stump in central Oregon.

The largest mushroom in North America? The largest in the world? This endangered species is a mycological mystery.

Paul Stamets is a "Radical Mycologist" and lives in Washington state. I encourage you to check out his web site. He sells books and mushroom grow kits. http://www.fungi.com/

In the grass

On the Marylhurst lawn I have found several kinds of fungi.

One of them, known as a pear-shaped puffball, is pictured here:

I keyed out the species using our book, Mushrooms Demistified.

Reefer Madness

Wow, a real one! Amanita Muscaria. So, does it intoxicate, inebriate, poison or make good eatin'?

It depends on who you ask and if it is PROPERLY PREPARED. David Arora, our text book author and mushroom expert, says it's edible and tasty (page 265.) But it must be "parboiled" to remove toxins.

David Arora also wrote a paper on the edibility of Amanita Muscaria published in Economic Botany. He basically blames cultural bias of field guide authors for lumping mushrooms with any potentially averse properties as "poisonous".

Co-author of the paper on cultural bias and the edibility of mushrooms is William Abel. Here is a picture of his wife holding a basket of Amanita Muscaria.

The classic online vault of psychoactive substances, Erowid, even has Amanita Muscaria on it's front page. It is called Fly Agaric because when mixed with milk it has been used to attract and kill flies.



It is known that the veil of the Amanita Muscaria contains the intoxicants Muscarine and Ibotenic acid and has been used for millennia by people all over the world as a drug.

So, Amanita Muscaria, intoxicant, indigestion, poisonous, or delicious? When in doubt, throw it out!

October 10 - 11 Camping trip

I found these mushrooms while camped along the Siletz River. I have been camping here since I was a kid and never noticed the Chanterelles, Sparassis or Ramaria. Camping here will never be the same.