Category: Home Feature
Support the U.S. National Fungus Collection
2026 Aug 31 You can support the US National Fungus Collection by signing an on-line petition. (Click here.) The USDA’s U.S. National Fungus Collection contains one of the world’s largest collections of preserved fungal specimens. Among other things, it includes definitive (“type”) collections of…
MycoMatch Mobile App
2026 May 23 I previously wrote about MycoMatch, the free computer program which is the most complete Pacific Northwest mushroom guide. It has thousands of photos from hundreds of photographers, and thousands of species and species descriptions. It includes a key where you enter…
GOM Update
Pleurotus citrinopileatus (Golden Oyster mushroom or just “GOM”) has been in the news since my earlier post. (Pretty, but Invasive, Mar 15, 2025). National, international, and local media are sounding the alarm. And researchers have provided hard, scientific data that bolsters concerns about this…
MycoMatch Update Available
2026 Feb 10 MycoMatch (MatchMaker) is a free computer program to help identify Pacific Northwest mushrooms. It’s the most complete Pacific Northwest mushroom guide, with: It includes a key where you can enter multiple mushroom characteristics at once (a synoptic key) instead of working…
iNat Founder Quits
2026 Jan 07 Many OMS members use iNaturalist’s citizen-science platform to record or identify their finds. iNaturalist is in many ways the brainchild of Ken-Ichi Kueda. Kueda is an iNaturalist co-founder who played a leading, continuing role in creating and developing its software. In…
Shopping for Cultivated Mushrooms
Wild mushrooms are available in season at the big grocery stores, but many local Asian stores offer a wide variety of exotic cultivated mushrooms year ’round. We did some comparison shopping and found that most of these items were imported from the far east…
The Maggie Rogers Memorial Grant Flyer
Interested in mushrooms and want to know more about them? Apply for a scholarship!
Still Wanted: Amanita smithiana
2025 Aug 24 Dr. Colleen Cowdery, with support of an OMS Maggie Rogers Grant, is continuing her study of Amanita smithiana (Smith’s Amanita). You can help by collecting samples and sending them to Dr. Cowdery. A. smithiana is a toxic Pacific Northwest mushroom…
Pretty, but Invasive
2025 Mar 15 Pleurotus citrinopileatus (Golden Oyster) is beautiful mushroom which has recently been cultivated in the U.S. This non-native species has escaped into the wild. It’s an aggressive species which threatens biodiversity. The Fungal Diversity Survey (FUNDIS) recently asked cultivators, foragers, and local…
Gyromitra and Related Lorchels
2025 Feb 27 In a paper published this January, a team headed by Dr. Alden Dirks revises (one might say “scrambles”) the taxonomy and names of Gyromitra and related mushrooms. Dr. Dirks also presented those finding in a webinar which you can view on…