Often Overlooked Spring Fungi with Andrew Methven, PhD

Culinary Historians of Chicago

Andrew S. Methven Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences Eastern Illinois University While most people are scouring the woods for morels in the Spring, there is a treasure trove of other fungi that are often overlooked or ignored in our haste to find food for the table. This talk will focus on some of the fungi, including morels and false morels, which are encountered in Midwestern forests in spring and early summer. You will see images of edible fungi, fascinating pathogens, and a number of fungi which are ecologically important or mycologically interesting. Andrew Methven is emeritus professor of mycology and lichenology at Eastern Illinois University. He has taught courses in mycology, lichenology, medical mycology, and field mycology, and curated the Cryptogamic Herbarium (with more than 15,000 collections of fungi and lichens). Included among his research interests are systematics and ecology of fungi, mycogeography, the application of molecular techniques to fungal systematics, and the identification and distribution of lichens in Eastern North America. His research program has examined the distribution of the mushroom genus Lactarius in the Western Hemisphere, the utilization of biological species concepts in systematics studies of fungi, and the application of molecular techniques to phylogenetic studies in Clavariadelphus, Lentaria, and Macrotyphula. Recent research projects involving undergraduate and graduate students have examined: The effects of sugar maple removal on the occurrence and distribution of fleshy fungi from endemic oak-hickory forests; the occurrence and distribution of fungal endophytes in sugar maple leaves; systematics and ecology of rust fungi on endemic plants; the use of lichens to assess habitat restoration in fragmented forest ecosystems; fungi which inhabit Spartina (cord grass) in the estuaries of coastal Georgia and North Carolina; and, more recently, systematic studies of species complexes in Gyromitra. If you have any questions or wish for a zoom link, please direct them to Illinois Mycological Association [e-mail]. Recorded via Zoom on April 4, 2022. IllinoisMyco.org Often Overlooked Spring Fungi of the Midwest Phylum Basidiomycota Agrocybe dura Candellomyces candolleanus Coprinellus micaceus Crepidotus crocophyllus Galerina marginata Gymnopus subsulphureus Megacollybia rodmanii Mycena galericulata Panus conchatus Pluteus petasatus Rhodotus palmatus Xeromphalina tenuipes Cerioporus squamosus Lentinus arcularius Neofavolus alveolaris Polyporus umbellatus Auricularia americana Ductifera pululahuana Exidia glandulosa Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae Puccinia podophylli Uromyces ari-tryphylli Phylum Ascomycota Aleuria aurantia Dumontinia tuberosa Galiella rufa Helvella costifera Hymenoschyphus fructigenus Microstoma floccosum Pachyella clypeata Phylloscypha phyllogena Sarcoscypha dudleyi Sarcoscypha occidentalis Urnula craterium Disciotis venosa Gyromitra brunnea Gyromitra caroliniana Gyromitra korfii Morchella angusticeps Morchella diminutiva Morchella esculentoides Morchella punctipes Verpa conica