STALKING 'SHROONS: HUNDREDS DESCEND ON AREA TO HUNT AND STUDY MUSHROOMS

Larry Tidd, left, and Jim Dinkins, both of Cape Girardeau, examined various species of mushrooms at a show by the Missouri Mycological Society Saturday at the Holiday Inn.

To a novice mushroom hunter, the item in the small box looked like a bump on log.

But, to the experienced eye, it was "Cercophora Scortea" on a stick.

"It's rare," said Dr. Gregory M. Mueller. "This specie is only the second ever found in North America. The only other one was found in 1996 in Louisiana.

"It doesn't even have a common name yet," said Mueller, Associate Curator, Mycology and Chair, Department of Botany at the Field Museum in Chicago.

For now, the do actually refer to it as a "bump on a log."

Mueller, who works with the biology and ecology of fungi, especially mushrooms, is in Cape Girardeau Saturday for the four-day, 39th annual North American Mycological Association Conference, which winds up today.

Host for the annual mushroom foray is the Missouri Mycological Society, headquartered in St. Louis. More than 200 mushroom enthusiasts are here for the event, from a number of states and Mexico.

Ken Gilberg, of the St. Louis area, president of the Missouri Mycological Society, said many of the members are not commercial collectors, but amateur. "We go in the woods, collect everything, bring it back and try to identify what it is."

The theme of the conference is "Show Me the Mushrooms!"

The results of the hunt were on display at the Holiday Inn Jackson Room Saturday afternoon, where more than 1,000 samples were logged and categorized

The Cercophora Scortea was found Saturday in the Mingo Swamp area, one of many areas being visited by as many as 200 mushroom enthusiasts who are scouring a number of sites in the area: Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Union and Pulaski counties in Southern Illinois, Apple Creek, Bollinger Mill, Pickle Springs, and Ste. Genevieve.

"The show it highly organized," said Dr. Orson K. Miller Jr., professor of Botany and Curator of Fungi at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. "Samples brought in are placed on tables as you enter the room. They are logged, verified and placed on tables in the back."

Miller, author of five books, including "Mushrooms of North America," and a group of mycologists determine the type and specie of the mushrooms found. "We determine the majority of them here," said Miller, "But, we may have to take some of them back with us for the final determination."

Miller's wife, Hope, was at the weekend meeting. She is author of 'Hope's Mushroom Cookbook."

Another rare specie found in the Mingo area this weekend was a "Chameota Fungi."

"This is an extremely rare fungi, found only in Missouri," he said.

Gary Lincoff who teaches field mycology and botany at New York Botanical Garden, and past president of the North American Mycological Association, looks forward to the mushroom forays each year.

"The forays are held in a different locale each year," said Lincoff, who is author of the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms."

"The weather has been so dry, we didn't really know what to expect this year," he said. "But, we've come up with some interesting species."

The interest in mushrooms goes far beyond those for eating.

Hanna Tschekunow is interested in poison mushrooms.

Tschekunow works for a poison center in Miami, Fla. "We receive numerous calls every year concerning poison mushrooms," she said. "I like to keep up with them."

There are only a few mushrooms that are poisonous. Some poisonous varieties were on display Saturday.

Peter Holmes of Michigan was interested in the purple fungi found on a large stick.

"It's a beautiful color," said Holmes. "And, when you look at it under a microscope, it's really interesting."

The coloring is often used in the making of dyes, said Holmes.

Participants at the conference made several forays into mushroom havens in the area. They also attended a number of workshops, including the cooking of mushrooms, presented by Julie Ridlon, who owns Chaterelle Catering and teaches cooking in the St. Louis area; and the naming of mushrooms, by Dr. Richard Kay, who likes fungi as photographic subjects. Kay is retired after 312 years at the University of Kansas.

There are more than 3,300 species of mushrooms throughout the world. About 3,000 of these species grow in the United States and Canada.

The mushrooms vary in size, from under an inch to more than a foot in heights. They come in a variety of colors, including brown, black, red, orange, blue and green.

The tastes of mushrooms are also varied, said Miller

Those attending the conference had an opportunity to taste some of the mushrooms found during the weekend hunt. Some of mushrooms were prepared for a tasting Saturday afternoon.