Think about attending the 2nd Fungus Festival 2023 (https://www.newyorkmyc.org/2nd-fungus-festival-2023/) Sunday 10/15 from 11AM to 3PM.

I'm going to head out this afternoon (8/19) and see if I can find the Lepista tarda that Sigrid recorded yesterday (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179039262). I've never found one! It is a fine day and the rains have brought in a new flush of fungi.

I'll be at the PPW entrance at 3PM if anyone wants to join me.

Potter

Project Members: The rains arrived! The fungi should be there for our walk! We will hold our workshop at 4PM on Saturday 7/29 to kick off the coming collection season which has started with such promise. Let's gather next to the Archway near the 5th Ave entrance.

Sigrid and I are discussing holding an informal workshop in GW on Thursday or Friday in late afternoon this week. Last week's flush of fungi in response to all the rain was inspiring. Now is a good time to gather, discuss data collection techniques, point out the areas to pay attention to, and actually find and talk about some of the more common species that are so fine to identify but are not the focus of our project at this point.

Message me (pcpalmer3) or Sigrid (sigridjakob) if you would be interested in attending later this week. We will be monitoring weather and the state of fungi (very volatile at this time of year, with the heat) and provide details.

As we move into the prime fungi season and are blessed with promising rain, I'd to remind folks to please following the guidelines below for additions to the project:

-- Make sure to only document fungi that are neither immature or too old, dry, wet, wrinkly or damaged. Prime specimens in good condition are of the greatest scientific value by far.

-- Make sure the mushroom is big in the photograph and in focus, so that all details can be seen well.

-- Avoid bright sunlight or partial shade; cast your shadow on the mushroom to take a picture so it’s evenly lit

-- Photograph the following:

1. Cap surface
2. Underside (gills or pores)
3. The full stem including the base (this might require carefully lifting the mushroom out with a knife)
4. A leaf or needles from the closest tree (if there is a tree nearby)

-- Smell the mushroom and take note of the odor in your iNat observation

-- Make a note of any discoloration or bruising that happens when you handle it

Here we are at the beginnings of a new season in Green-Wood. Things never really got started last year, but we are hoping for more rain and more fungi this year. So far so good. A few observations have already been posted.

Sigrid has prepared a Guide for Documenting Fungi in Green-Wood Cemetery. Enjoy!

Recent rains have resulted in the appearance of decent numbers of GW fungi. Searches in the next few days should result in satisfying finds. Please take note of the guidelines in some of previous posts (Improving Your INat Fungi Observations, Higher Standards).

Enjoy!

Just as we did in 2021, the Fungi Phenology project is taking part in the City Nature Challenge Bioblitz in Green-Wood. On Sunday May 1 from 10AM to 12PM Sigrid Jakob and Jon Brown will be found at the 25th Street entrance answering questions, demo-ing iNaturalist (here is a link to our own iNaturalist tutorial), lending hand lenses (we may require a $5 deposit), and exhibiting examples of finds from last year. There will be no organized foraging but everyone will be encouraged to head out into the GW kame and kettle to document finds. We know that spring is a frustratingly slow time for fungi in general but there were a few gilled finds last year and plenty of lichen observations captured.

See you at the Bioblitz!

https://www.popsci.com/environment/mushroom-hunting-green-wood-cemetery/

I have a love/hate relationship with The Green-Wood Tree Finder web app . It's clunky and slow when you run it in a browser on your phone, but it will tell you precisely what kind of tree you are looking at if you can find and read the silver tag posted on the north side of the tree. And that is sweet. Knowing the tree you are looking at is a beautiful thing, and also very useful in identifying fungi.

Jon (@notdog) recently shared a new Tree Finder trick that can help locate good-to-great mushroom sites.

"...I set up a filter [in Tree Finder] to show only red oaks on the map, which led to a bunch of new-to-me fungi...Basically you tap the filter icon at the lower left (looks like a funnel) and type in the tree name in one or more fields. I go to the third field, which is for a common name, type in red oak, and tap apply. If your phone's like mine, you'll then have to tap the minimize icon (like a dash) a dozen times before the filter window disappears. You may then need to zoom in two levels for the trees to appear. You can show your location too by tapping the crosshairs icon, but that will not let you move the map around. I recommend trying this out on a laptop or desktop web browser first to see how it works (minus the crosshairs, which will take you out of Greenwood if you're testing from home). It also has the advantage of not often having to restart the app after you switch to the camera, which happens with some frequency on the phone."

As Jon states, red oaks (Quercus rubra) are very friendly with all sorts of classic charismatic mycorrhizal mushrooms -- boletes, amanitas, and russulas, to name a few. In the fall, eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are also very productive.