 | MSSF Quick Start Foray Dec. 2010 (photo 1 & report) REPORT:Despite storm warnings, a dozen new mushroom seekers gathered at the Sunset Blvd in San Francisco for an MSSF Quick Start Foray in December. At 10 am, thankfully, the rain eased to a mist. The group included people who had just learned about the MSSF at the Fungus Fair two weeks earlier. We trooped off after a brief orientation with MSSF Education Committee members Thomas Jenkinsen and Alice Sunshine about the main identifiers mushroom collectors have in mind as we look at diverse species. The varied landscaping along Sunset evokes a wide range of mycorhizzal species (fungi that grow together with specific living trees and other plants). The seekers were delighted by the large chalk-rigid red-topped russulas, the gently lavender and purple bluets, and the delicately lacy, small fungi like mycenas and coprinus, growing and melting before our eyes in the rain. PHOTO 1: Back at the specimen table, Thomas guided the group through identification keys for Agaricus Xanthodermus (the yellow-staining agaric) which we found in abundance, and which obediently stained yellow for each participant. |
 | MSSF Quick Start Foray Dec. 2010 (photo 2) Everyone was impressed with what can be found hiding among the pine cones. |