Mushroom Exhibits
Spore Prints (Puget Sound Mycological Society, Seattle, WA) reported on the success of their 1992 annual mushrooms exhibit. Basically they sold out of several of the items they had on sale, including shirts, posters, and books. It's interesting to note that this year they even offered VISA/MasterCard for payment acceptance, which apparently significantly increased their revenues.
In the same vein, the Oregon Mycological Society had their annual Mushroom Show at the Tigard armory, and it was also reported as a success. This year, rather than display tables with mushrooms in order by genus and species, they experimented with a mushrooms by habitat exhibit. Apparently the members liked the idea of the displays in such a manner, but next year may merge the two display methods for maximum effectiveness.
As a side note, Spore Prints reported that they picked up 120 new members at their show, while the unofficial tally of the Portland exhibit was 82 new members. Wow!
Moroccon Study Tour
Unfortunately too late for the deadline of our December/January issue is news reported by NATS Current News (The North American Truffling Society, Corvallis, OR). Gary Lincoff (author of the Audubon Field Guide to North American Mushrooms) and Emanuel Salzman (co-editor of Mushroom Poisoning) will be leading a Mushroom Study Tour of Morocco from December 1-15, 1992. I'm sure, had this news only been available at the November meeting, that everyone would have rushed out and purchased their round trip ticket. In all seriousness, if I only had the time and money... For those of you who wish to catch up to Gary and Emanuel in Morocco can gain further information from: Fungophile, P. O. Box 480503, Denver, CO 80248-0503. Telephone: (303) 296-9359.
Russian Mushroom Poisonings
An article that appeared in the August 9, 1992 issue of the Los Angeles Times (which I don"t have a copy of), but also reported on in several newsletters, including NATS, reports that "at least 193 cases of mushroom poisoning, including 23 deaths, have been reported since the end of July in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant in the Voronezh region of Russia, about 350 miles from Moscow." The article goes on with reports of 400 other mysterious illnesses and 40 deaths from mushrooms in the Ukraine.
It continues on stating that scientists have been hunting for environmental causes such as radioactivity, pesticides, or heavy metals.
As an aside, I remember the Russian press several years ago reported the fact that a UFO had actually landed in the center of a rural Russian town, with several of the creatures leaving and meeting the towns people. The Russian press (I believe it was the Itar-Tass news agency)went on to interview the mayor of the town and several of the towns people about the sighting. At least one local Portland, Oregon radio station initially reported this as an event that was in the process of happening. Several days later, when it appeared that the UFO had apparently flown away before anybody captured any pictures, or leaving any souvenir (except for the requisite burnt ground), one of the major news services (UPI?) did a follow-up story explaining how after being given more freedom of the press, much of the Russian press is closer to the National Enquirer than the New York Times.
The only reason I"ve spent this much time with the story, is that although the news needs to be reported because of the story being published in the LA Times, I think we need to dig a little deeper for the actual truth before taking this to heart. Do otherwise edible mushrooms mysteriously turn deadly poisonous overnight? I think not! Nuclear waste or pesticides I"d buy, but not spontaneous degeneration. I will try to do a follow up on this story in the next issue.
Be Careful Out There
This does bring up something that wouldn"t hurt being restated again, and that is that we need to be careful about where the mushrooms we pick are growing. If there is any possibility of pesticides having been used, or chemicals having been dumped in the area, don't pick the mushrooms for the table (that goes for anything that you're thinking of ingesting).
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