Fungi & Lichens

Is there enough interest for a forum on Mushrooms, other fungi and Lichens?

You can't say no to Fungi, Lichens, and Protists.
There doesn't seem to be a forum on diseases.
Diseases called Fungi are usually the fungal generation of Protists. The other generation having previously been classified as plants or animals.
e.g. Macrocystis pyrifera (Giant Kelp, formerly a plant) is related to Phythophora (root rot, formerly a fungus). The free swimming generation of both is very similar.


This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 4:00 PM

Likely not.

First, they aren't even plants.

Secondly, I'd be concerned about the forum being abused in one of many ways, not the least of which is the hallucinetic use of these things.

Dave

I've seen some posts in the past in the Alpines forum about mosses and lichens. I grow culinary mushrooms and it's a shame, but true, that anything dedicated to mycological hobbies will probably get hijacked by those out hunting for a buzz.

I get a buzz out hunting for Morels, does that count?

Not taxonomic plants, per say .. but, are vegetation .. and certainly have their place in ecology.

Lichens are some pretty efficient organisms. Most importantly, lichens are true indicators of the 'condition' of our soil, air and water.

Many species of fungi, play a vital role in the symbiotic relationship with trees and other green plants.

Would seem (should, such a forum be implemented) .. that any posts and replies directly associated with any hallucinogenic properites and experiences .. may could easily be monitored, reported and removed. But, then DG-mail would become a mass transit of the sharing of such experiences between those that share such interests.

Most understandably .. all, would inevitably translate to an increased load and greater chore, thrown onto the laps and garden carts .. of DG administration.

- Magpye

We've avoided mosses and lichens from PlantFiles because it is a database of plants (i.e., Plantae kingdom), which is definitely distinct from Fungi.

However, a forum to discuss lichens, mosses, liverworts and other fungi could be interesting (Hey, I grew up in a family that hunted morels each spring and consider them a food fit for the gods ;o)

Could it possibly attract the wrong kind of attention? It could, but then again, Brugs, Morning Glories or the Cactus forums could, too if we didn't all work together to set and maintain a proper tone.

As long as everyone agreed from the outset that using the forum to share tips for illicit use was definitely a no-no, it could be a helpful forum just like any other forum.

And what UUallace may have failed to mention is that in addition to talking about fungi for its own sake, there's also the interconnection between plants and the fungi ever-present in the soil.

Terry .. I take it, that we may have 'cross-posted' (?) .. lol

- Magpye

Terry,
While lichens and fungi are indeed in a different Kingdom (the Fungi), mosses, liverworts and hornworts are true plants and are part of the Plantae Kingdom. They are however in a separate branch of the Plant Kingdom, the non-vascular plants or bryophytes in the Bryata, whereas most of the plants are vascular plants in the Tracheata.

Lichens may be plants. The non-fungus part of the alliance can be Bacterium, Plant, or Protist; or more than one. For those of you not familiar with the fifth kingdom; the asexual generation of Protists were fungi, while the sexual generation had been plants or animals. Phytothora (root rot) and giant brown kelp, one form of both is a nearly indentical single cell swimming with two flagella. DNA testing is doing strange things to taxonomy.

While I have no interest in mosses & lichens, I see where there would be tremendous interest in mushrooms/funghi.

Not only because mushroom hunting clubs are booming, but there are now quite a few companies selling kits to grow edible mushrooms both outdoors & in. I'd find a forum about this really interesting, as a neighbor of mine grows Shitake mushrooms commercially & I'd like to do so just for my own use & perhaps for farmers' markets.

If you're concerned about hallucinogenic use, perhaps you could just make it known from the outset that discussions involving that are not allowed. I can't see how that would be any different from banning sales talk, or hallucinogenic use of herbs on the Herb forum.

Here on the farm I have a fabulous array of mushrooms crop up every spring & fall. I'd love to have some input about them, & I'm sure many others here feel the same way. Don't think it would be difficult to find a minimum of at least 20.

I could save sooo much money at the grocery store if I could grow mushrooms! At $3.50/pound for plain old button mushrooms, much less the tastier cremini and portabella and shiitake, I'd love to see how others do so. In the meantime, I'll continue to buy the fresh ones each week and mark them in the 'luxury' column. :-)

It would also be nice to be able to identify those in the yard and fields that just pop up, to see if they're edible.

I'm interested!

Okay - so then perhaps we should ask the original poster here - UUallace - to edit/change the title of this thread to "New Forum for Funghi & Lichens?" & see what sort of responses/interest we get.

Like I said, I'd personally really like this from both a gardening & cooking point of view.

Oh, I am definately interested!
Living in the muggy south is a great place for all sorts of spongy things to grow. I even found out on such a thread that the fungus I was running away from was just some common item and nothing that would really harm a flea. I even learned to look at it positively, 'Cool! I have eggs in nest growing in my mulch!'.
It would be nice to see a forum, even if it has special rules, for fungi & stuff. There are forums for other things that are not plant related.... (computer talk, crafts & decorating, wildlife, etc.) ;o)

.. BreezyMeadow ..

Ref: To the best of my limited knowledge - edits to/title changes aren't {done} by the thread starter. Should one desire .. such is usually submitted as a request to Administration to change such, etc.

Besides .. the original poster (UUallace) .. IS already inquiring about anyone else perhaps being interested in such a forum. And, that's what we're presently doin' ..

- Magpye

This message was edited Oct 27, 2005 3:27 PM

I am interested. I spent many summer hours taking pictures of Mosses, Ferns and Lichen and try to identify them.

I am interested - I am already let Terry know back the summer about my loe of looking for these little guys and I tried to get mushrooms into the plantfiles - didnt work but I still think that is a great idea too!

Besides culinary, my interest is in symbiosis. id est Rhododendron-ericoid fungi.
Pyrola-arbutoid fungi.
Monotropa-Lactarius mushrooms
Monotropa has no chlorophyll and cannot be grown without mushrooms, Monotropa had been a fungus, but is now a plant.
Are Orchids fungi, or Lillies? Some also do not have chlorophyll.

I would be interested in this type of forum also. I love taking pictures and you can never tell what I am going to be taking a picture of. Trying to ID fungi, lichens, mosses is not an easy thing to do, any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
DebiV

I am interested, my DH and DB are always checking out fungi they find in the wilds, I would feel lots safer if I knew for sure they weren't poisonous, besides could eat them if they weren't.

I am very interested too. I have dozens of fungi growing around here and would like to know what they are.

A cryptogam forum as a catch all would be fun. I play a little bit with mosses.

Not to steer off track however, has anyone seen this site-
http://www.mossacres.com/

I love some of the work they have done with moss.

Ages ago, I helped a friend innoculate and harvest loads of shiitake logs at his farm. It would be interesting to get some discussion going here on fungi. I like the idea of including lichins, mosses, etc in the forum, even if it's not taxonically correct. I would probably be more of a lurker than a contributor (except I guess I'd have something to post about those shittakes!).

There are many other internet sites one can join to talk about mushrooms. Dave, I like that: "hallucinetics." Sounds like a bunch of scientologists on mushrooms! ("dianetics" + peyote = "hallucinetics" LOL!)

There is a great forum for morel hunters that I joined last year, and I am sure there are many more sites where mushroom afficionados can discuss fungi to their hearts's content.

Elliot

PrairiegirlZ5,

If a mushroom hunter insists on eating more kinds of mushrooms than just the few that there is no mistaking what they are, that mushroom hunter could very well one day be in serious trouble. Even VETERAN European mushroom-hunting families, who have hunted mushrooms for decades have been found dead on the floor of their home from making just one mistake.

I had ONE mushroom poisoning experience, and that was more than enough for me to stick with those mushrooms there can be NO mistaking: morels, puffballs and a very few more. My mushoom poisoning experience had me going through projectile vomiting and violent diarrhea, and I was only "mildly" poisoned. I had eaten just one piece of a mushroom that was about an inch square.

Elliot

Critterologist, I'd be most interested about growing Shitakes. I had a friend who tried innoculating ironwood logs, and got absolutely "0" mushrooms. Lotta hard work for nothing.

Would also be interested to know whatever happened to "Morel Mountain" Company. Seems they stumbled on the final two steps to actually getting morels to fruit under artifical culture, did a booming business for a couple of years, then disappeared without a trace or an explanation!

Now it seems as if they never even existed, like maybe it was just a hoax. But one of the biggest, best-known guys who grows mushrooms says it's only a matter of time before someone gets growing morels under artificial culture down pat.

Elliot

Morel Site: http://www.morelheaven.com/homepage.html

I've always wanted to do one of those mushroom kits but was afraid I'd mess it up or it would get contaminated and grow the wrong ones and kill us all or something horrid like that. A forum would be nice.

Diana

So Dave - are you convinced that we're not a bunch of hippies looking for a quick trip & deserve a forum? Lol!!!!

Whoops! I assumed Summer Holly (Comarostaphylis diversifolia) used the typical ericoid fungi. Just found out they use arbutoid fungi. It should near the Pyrola and Arctostaphylis (plus they rhyme). Can't find out anything about Chimaphila or Sarracenia. Trying Chimaphila both ways to see which one does better.

Hi,

I'm interested in wild mushrooms particularly. We had giant puffballs right in the yard for a couple of years, but unfortunately I think a great increase in the local chipmunk population (and, therefore, increased digging and burrowing) disturbed the underpinnings and they are no more.

Most of the literature I've seen seems to deal with the West Coast and I'd love to hear more about what's likely to be growing here in New England.

Earthballs, Puffballs, and Truffles were meant to be eaten. That is how the spores are distributed. The gilled mushrooms cast theirs into the wind. Your mycorrhizae are still there. Only when conditons are perfect do they send up a puffball. I can send you spores of Pisolithus tinctorus. Piso = pea, lithus = rock or mineral. tinctorus = used for dyeing. It is inedible by human standards. It does cause its neighbors to have very well branched roots. If you have dogs it wil produce earthballs. If you have to ask, you probably should not eat button mushrooms.

http://www.ilmyco.gen.chicago.il.us/Terms/earth626.html

Puffballs were meant to be eaten? I can understand that about truffles, as they are under the ground. But common sense tells me the wind does an excellent job of distributing puffball spores once the puffball has reached the proper age. Millions---even billions---of spores get dispursed by the wind at that point.

Also, puffballs, at least the giant ones I have eaten, do not have a particularly appealing taste or texture---not particularly unappealing, but nothing to particularly recommend them---they don't even begin to approach the flavor of the ordinary table mushroom.

I used puffballs one time to thicken a mushroom soup I made using wild and domestic mushrooms. That worked pretty well.

By the way, the way to tell a true, edible puffball from, say, the immature stage of a deadly Amanita, is to cut the puffball straight down the middle. The inside of the puffball should be solid and pure white. If you see the form or outline of a mushroom inside the puffball, DO NOT EAT IT--- IT IS NOT A PUFFBALL.

Last comment---If puffballs were meant to be eaten, why did someone name the edible portion the "gleba"? Uggh!

Hmm...maybe I misread your message. It appears you are saying that the fruiting bodies of puffballs are generally located underground UNLESS conditions are perfect for the formation of a puffball? That seems to make no sense, as it would mean that puffballs make two different kinds of fruting/spore-bearing bodies---one most commonly located underground and one that appears aboveground when conditions are right?

This is quite confusing to me:

"Earthballs, Puffballs, and Truffles were meant to be eaten. That is how the spores are distributed. The gilled mushrooms cast theirs into the wind. Your mycorrhizae are still there. Only when conditons are perfect do they send up a puffball. I can send you spores of Pisolithus tinctorus."

I have already asked whether you're saying puffballs make two different kinds of fruiting bodies. Which kind of puffball is pisolithus tinctorus, the giant puffball? Probably little reason to ask for spores, since puffballs tend to be lacking in flavor.

"Piso = pea, lithus = rock or mineral. tinctorus = used for dyeing. It is inedible by human standards. It does cause its neighbors to have very well branched roots. If you have dogs it wil produce earthballs. If you have to ask, you probably should not eat button mushrooms."

Another reason to wonder why anyone would want spores. "Its neighbors" being plants of various kinds? "Button mushrooms" being domestic mushrooms? I got confused there again. But as far as commercial mushrooms being grown in manure, or any other mushroom for that matter---no big deal. It's not as if one was eating manure. And of course, we human beings could not survive if we were not thoroughly inhabited, inside and out, by bacteria of many different kinds. Howard Hughes had NO IDEA...

Fungus consists of mycorrhizza. They can be in the ground, in your nails or wood. Some of them produce a mushroom, mold or similar. Many do not. The puffballs that do not, explode many are calling earthballs now. They have pockets of spores that need to be eaten. One of them, Pisolithus tinctorius, improves root branching. This is most beneficial to conifers, Summer Holly, Manzanita, Arbutus and Pyrola.

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jun2003.html

Ericales do not have tap roots or root hairs and are dependant on fungi. [either arbutoid or ericoid] Rhododendrons have no fungal problems at all. The asexual generation of Protists (e.g. Phytothora, Mildew) had been classed as fungi, The sexual generation had previously been either plants or animals. DNA testing has shown that many diverse creatures are the same in different forms. The alternate generation (single cell swimming with two flagellae) of Phytothora (root rot) is nearly identical to the alternate generation of Giant Brown Kelp. The visible form ot this kelp can grow 20' per day.

I am sorry. Unless you are more careful and proofread what you send, I will not be able to understand all of what you're saying:

"The puffballs that do not, explode many are calling earthballs now."


What does that mean, please?

Some puffballs explode when you step on them sending spores flying. Earthballs look the same but just squash (no fun). All Ericales (Heaths, Hollies, Wintergreens) require fungi. Most are not particular. Monotropa only grows with Lactarius or Russula. It has stubs for leaves and no chlorophyll.

Thank you. That clarifies it. Do you know if human beings have any beneficial fungi they depend on? As I've mentioned, I know we cannot exist without coexisting with bacteria, but curious about fungi.

We do not need fungi, except for athletes' feet. I had imported Giardia from Mexico, when they used to be animals. They are now Protists. They were unpleasant.