Find, identify fungi with society’s help

In Arkansas, a good place to start looking for mushrooms that glow — or that don’t — and asking whether they are safe to eat — is any place the Arkansas Mycological Society meets.

An affiliate of the North American Mycological Association, the society is an organization of professional and amateur mycologists. To contact its most active members, search Facebook for “Arkansas Mushrooms and Fungi” or email Jay Justice at justice@aristotle.net.

Justice helped found the society in 1982 and is its scientific adviser. He’s also science adviser for the Cumberland Mycological Society in Tennessee as well as chief mycologist for the Missouri Mycological Society. He’s a retired epidemiologist.

Two workshops in June offer the opportunity to begin to learn about Arkansas fungi in the field.

MEADOWCREEK

Justice will present a daylong mushroom identification workshop June 10 at Meadowcreek Retreat and Learning Center in Stone County in northern Arkansas.

From 9 to 11 a.m., students will learn about techniques that can be used to identify common summer mushrooms. After lunch, which is included in the $35 fee, they’ll spend two hours collecting. The final two hours will be at the conference center, where Justice will help students identify their finds.

The center’s address — 7667 Meadowcreek Road, Fox — suggests that it’s in a town, but that’s not the case. The 30-year-old compound, surrounded by forest, is reached by gravel roads.

Registration and more information are at meadowcreekinc.com.

DEVIL’S DEN

The society will conduct a 1 ½-day workshop on mushroom ID on June 24 and 25 at Devil’s Den State Park at West Fork. Justice says chances are good students will find some of the smaller bioluminescent mushrooms, Panellus stipticus.

The first day’s session will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., beginning in the park’s visitor center audiovisual room, for a PowerPoint presentation on the features used for identifying mushrooms/fungi. A foray to observe and identify them will follow.

Day two, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include a hike to observe mushrooms as well as a cooking demonstration by Tim Jones.

Cost is $50 for the whole workshop or $35 for Saturday only and $25 for Sunday only. Register by emailing justice@aristotle.net.

— Celia Storey