Mushrooms: Edible, Poisonous, and Ecologically Vital

The flavours, colours, and textures of edible wild mushrooms delight the eye and the palate and are luring foragers, both commercial and personal into the woods in increasing numbers. However, edible and poisonous mushrooms can look alike, and tragedy can result, as when a three-year old child died on Vancouver Island last year after eating the death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides.

In this series of talks, we invite you to learn more about mushrooms whether toxic or delicious, from experts who are passionate about them. Here is an opportunity to participate in discussions about how best to equip our communities for safe appreciation of our diverse, beautiful, and ecologically important mushroom species.

• 1:00 Ecological importance of mushrooms Steve Trudell, Mycologist, Author and Forest Ecologist, Seattle WA and NAMA member
• 1:30 Death Cap mushrooms in BC, Paul Kroeger, Mycologist, President, Pacific Northwest Key Council, Vancouver BC & VMS member
• 2:00 Mushroom Poisons: the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, Jonathan Walton, Professor Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI
• 2:30 Fungal Dark Matter and the Importance of Collectors in Species Discovery; Anna Bazzicalupo, PhD student, Department of Botany, UBC, Vancouver BC & VMS member
• 3:00-3:15 break
• 3:15 Poison Control: Who We Are, Who We Aren’t, And Why You Should Still Call, Raymond Li, BC Centre for Disease Control, Drug and Poison Information Centre, Vancouver BC
• 3:45 BC Truffles, Shannon Berch, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Botany, UBC.

Limited seating available. Registration required for public attendance.

Museum admission or membership is required to attend - this can be purchased at our admission desk upon arrival.

Thanks to a UBC Wall Solutions Initiative Grant Edible, poisonous or ecologically vital--DNA sequence database to characterize BC fungi important for human and environmental health for support of this workshop.

Participating organizations: Beaty Biodiversity Museum; BC Centre for Disease Control; Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center; North American Mycological Association; South Vancouver Island Mycological Society; Vancouver Mycological Society; University of British Columbia Department of Botany; Stuntz Foundation Institutional grant.