We're busily working at building our speaker program and other plans and activities for 2023. Here is what we have scheduled so far.
- MycoConsortium presentations as explained on the 2023 Programs article on the front page. These are online presentations.
- A few in-person presentations at the East Asheville Library conference room. Date and time will be published when available.
| 2023 Program Details | |||||
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| Date/Time | Speaker - Topic - Bio |
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February 16 7 PM |
Rosanne Healy Rosanne will talk about her travels and work to better understand the relationships, ecology and life history of the group of fungi that we know as the Cup Fungi. These are the fungi that include the famous black Perigord truffle, delectable morels and iconic scarlet cups. They also include many lesser known, but fascinating truffles and cup-shaped, columni-form, and saddle-shaped fungi. Rosanne has traveled and worked with Don Pfister and a team of truffle mycologists for twenty five years, tracking down data to help fill in the natural history of truffles and cup fungi, to better understand how they are related, what their ecologies are and how their ancestors moved around to where they are now. Bio: Dr. Rosanne Healy received her advanced degrees from Iowa State University and the University of Minnesota. She did post doctoral work with Dr. Don Pfister at Harvard. Her research centers on Pezizomycete systematics, with an emphasis on truffles. She has been working in the teaching program, and as a fungarium manager and research scientist in Matthew Smith’s Lab at the University of Florida since 2015. |
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March 2 7 PM |
Donald Pfister Using examples from research that has been done on specimens from the Farlow fungarium Don will outline how these specimens contribute to modern taxonomic and systematic studies and how curatorial practices contribute to or distract from accurate study of collections. How was it possible to determine that a species suspected to be extinct was found to be widespread in eastern North America? What can collections tell us about the high and unexpected diversity of species of an often-collected genus of tropical fungi? Where was Charles Wright when he collected Puccinia triarticulata and how did he get there? These and other questions will be examined through the eye of a long serving curator. Bio: Dr. Donald Pfister has been at Harvard University and the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany since 1974, after having been at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez from 1971. His Ph.D. was from Cornell University where he worked with Richard P. Korf. Aside from various administrative roles, his activities at the Farlow have centered on teaching and research, mostly on Ascomycota (Pezizomycetes, Leotiomycetes and Laboulbeniomyces), and stewardship of the Farlow collections. Over his career he has not only been responsible for the Farlow collections, but he also served as director of the entire Harvard University Herbaria, which numbers nearly 6 million specimens. The Farlow collections, which include not only fungi and lichenized fungi but also algae and bryophytes, include about 1.5 million specimens. He has written several books and articles dealing with collections. In all of these he has melded his research on fungi with the history and documentation of collections.
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March 7 8 PM |
Noah Siegel Topic: Under Pressure: Evolution Oddities in the Fungal World 
This lecture will highlight some of the fascinating traits fungi have evolved due to environmental pressures, and the strive to get ahead in the fungal world. Bio: Noah Siegel's field mycology skills are extensive – he has spent over three decades seeking, photographing, identifying, and furthering his knowledge about all aspects of macrofungi. He has hunted for mushrooms throughout the United States and Canada, as well as on multiple expeditions to New Zealand and Australia and Cameroon. He is one of the premier mushroom photographers in the nation, having won numerous awards from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) photography contest. His technique and attention to detail are unrivaled, arising from a philosophy of maximizing utility for identification purposes while maintaining a high degree of aesthetic appeal. His photographs have appeared on the covers and have been featured in articles of multiple issues of FUNGI Magazine, the primary mushroom enthusiast magazines in the United States, numerous mushroom books, as well as many club publications. He authored, along with Christian Schwarz, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, a comprehensive guide for the northern California coast, and A field Guide to the Rare Fungi of California's National Forests. He is currently working on Mushrooms of Cascadia; a reference guide for Pacific Northwest fungi. Noah travels and lectures extensively across America, following the mushrooms from coast to coast, and everywhere in between.. |
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March 16 7 PM |
Justine Karst
Topic: The Decay of the Wood Wide Web?
 The ‘wood-wide web’ has captured the interest of broad audiences. Common mycorrhizal networks, namely fungi that physically link roots of different trees together, are purported to be widespread and mediate transfer of resources and signals from trees to seedlings in forests. In this talk, Justine challenges popular claims about the function of common mycorrhizal networks in forests and highlights the misinformation that has developed in recent years.Bio: Justine Karst grew up in western Canada and was curious about forests from childhood on. From that curiosity, she completed a PhD in mycorrhizal ecology and, in 2016, joined the faculty at the University of Alberta, where she is Associate Professor. For the past 20 years, she has studied the mycorrhizal ecology of forests with a preference for the boreal region. She is currently Vice President of the International Mycorrhiza Society. |
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March 17 6:30 PM |
This is an in-person presentation at the East Asheville Library conference room.
Laurie Jaegers
Topic: Morels!
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March 30 7 PM |
Shannon Adams Topic: Unveiling the Enigmatic Beauty of Cortinarius
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Bio: Shannon Adams is a User Researcher in the tech industry who has a passion for the genus Cortinarius. When she emigrated from Australia 20+ years ago she was struck by the diversity and beauty of Cortinarius species she saw in the Washington Cascades, and started trying (and failing) to identify them. For the past 6 years she has been collecting and documenting species in the region and has over 1,000 Cortinarius collections in her personal herbarium. In 2021 she led publication of a new Cortinarius species - Cortinarius rufosanguineus, has three other species in the publication pipeline and is currently collaborating with researchers on red-gilled Dermocybe. |
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April 13 7 PM |
James Dalling
Topic: Seed - Fungal Relationships
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April 30 11 AM |
Christian Volbracht
Topic: Mycological Illustration: History, Techniques and Problems
In his lecture, Christian Volbracht will give an overview of the history of illustration of fungi in printed books. He will present numerous examples of printed drawings and paintings of mushrooms from Europe, America and Asia, covering five centuries, from 1491 to the present. He will explain the various printing techniques from woodcuts to colored copper engravings to colored lithography and modern printing, describing the progress of the different illustration methods. Of particular interest are the colored copper engravings of fungi in the 18th century by Bulliard, Sowerby and Schaeffer, which are still important today as first diagnoses of new species. Volbracht will also go over problems which can arise when using the old figures of mushrooms. Bio: Christian Volbracht is a German journalist, amateur mycologist, and author and specialist in old mushroom literature. He has worked as a news journalist for the German Press Agency dpa for more than 40 years, including ten years as head of the agency’s Paris office. Parallel to his career as a journalist, he collected mushroom books, compiled an important private library and built an online shop for antiquarian mushroom books. Eventually, he published MykoLibri, a comprehensive illustrated bibliography of his collection, covering works from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The two volumes of MykoLibri are now recognized as the standard bibliography for mycological literature – for collectors, dealers, researchers and librarians. Recently, Volbracht wrote a book on the scientific and cultural history of truffles. He lives in Hamburg, Germany. |
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| May 11 7 PM |
Greg Marley has also shared a link to his talk on identifying those bewildering boletes: https://youtu.be/bx5l0ZaBg8Q and a link to a helpful Québecois website: https://www.mycoquebec.org/bienvenue.php Greg Marley Topic: Foraging Edible Wild Mushrooms for the Beginner; Develop your Foolproof Few  Foraging for wild mushrooms has become a favored pastime for nature-minded people of all ages. The single thing that holds a novice mycophile back is the fear of being poisoned. There are a number of toxic mushrooms that can make you sick and a small number, dangerously ill. This presentation will introduce you to the concept of “Foolproof Mushrooms”, a group of mushrooms that are common, easily identifiable and without toxic look-alikes. It will also address some of the common mistakes that people later regret. Join us for an evening of learning a handful of “Foolproof" edible mushrooms and some guidance to avoid becoming a toxic mushroom statistic. Bio: Greg Marley, LCSW has been studying, growing, collecting, cooking and eating wild mushrooms for more than 45 years. He shares his love of mushrooms through lectures, workshops and walks on mushroom identification, culture and ecology to hundreds of hopeful mycophiles as well as consulting in cases of mushroom poisoning with poison centers in New England. Greg is the author of Mushrooms for Health; Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi (2009) and Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares, The Love Lore and Mystique of Mushrooms (2010). He lives and mushrooms along the coast of Maine where he has been a Director of the Maine Mycological Association for some time, and regularly teaches mushroom identification at Eagle Hill. When not mushrooming Greg works as a mental health clinician, trainer and consultant in suicide prevention and management. |
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| May 21 11 AM |
Björn Wergen Topic: Dung-Loving Cup Fungi  Dung-Loving Cup Fungi is an overview of the colorful and less known species of the order Pezizales growing on dung from various animals. Genera, species, morphology and recent taxonomy will be discussed. Bio: Björn Wergen is founder and director of Schwarzwälder Pilzlehrschau, a mushroom school in Hornberg in the Black Forest, southern Germany. The school offers mycology courses and seminars from beginner to advanced levels. He has been studying fungi since 1994 and has a focus on morphology, taxonomy and photographic documentation. Wergen is author of the monumental Handbook of Ascomycota, Volumes 1a & 1b: Pyrenomycetes s.l. (2018). |
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| June 1 7 PM |
This is an online MycoConsortium presentation. Zoom details will published here for members a few days before the presentation. Zachary (Mazi) Hunter Topic: Mycological Mexico: Oaxaca Edition  Mexico is one of the most climate diverse countries in the world, and it has been estimated that indigenous Mexicans consume about 300 species of edible mushrooms across its eight climatic regions; All eight climates are found in the Southern State of Oaxaca. Despite its inclusion geographically in North America, the country of Mexico can seem quite foreign in its attitudes toward mushrooms and mushroom foraging when compared to the US or Canada. The difference, even more pronounced in Oaxaca, is more than just a language barrier, though that plays a significant role; despite Spanish being the dominant language, there are more than 16 official language groups throughout this state alone. More than half of the political regions in Oaxaca are self-governed autonomous democracies. There are no mushroom picking permits: nothing can be removed from the land, or even access granted, without express permission of the community. And yet, their knowledge of mushrooms and even mycology is vast and has been known since time immemorial. In this presentation, Chef Zachary Mazi attempts to tackle the barriers in understanding this delicate relationship, and discusses the intricate web of food-life-forest-community that underlies the unique management of these diverse and incredible ethnomycological regions whose wisdom holds so much potential for the rest of North America.Bio: Zach is a lifelong devotee to flavor; a professionally trained chef who has been obsessed with mushrooms and uncovering the unknown with regards to edible mushroom chemistry and physiology. He is a member of the NAMA's (North American Mycological Association) Culinary Committee. He lives in Oaxaca, Mexico with his wife Kim, where they run MycoAdventures in the mountains of Oaxaca and beyond. |
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| June 15 7 PM |
This is an online MycoConsortium presentation. Zoom details will published here for members a few days before the presentation. Keith Seifert Topic: Three Microfungi that Changed the World  |
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| July | TBA |
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| August 17 |
TBA This is an in-person presentation at the East Asheville Library conference room. |
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| September 20 |
TBA This is an in-person presentation at the East Asheville Library conference room. |
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| October 19 |
TBA This is an in-person presentation at the East Asheville Library conference room. |
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| November 16 |
Annual club business meeting at 6:30 pm in the East Asheville Library conference room. No Presentation | ||||
