NEMF 2025 Sam Ristich Foray - A Mushroom Convergence in Central New York

Good evening, friends,

This past weekend the Northeastern Mycological Federation 48th Annual Samuel Ristich Foray took place at Camp Comstock in Ithaca, NY. It was a dry summer throughout the northeast, but that didn’t stop over 200 professional and amateur mycologists from convening to find as many mushrooms as possible.

The table talk on the last day of NEMF. Everyone was encouraged to grab a mushroom and share a story or other information about the species.

Setting

The setting was serene, right on the banks of Lake Cayuga, and the accommodations were quite “rustic” — the word frequently tossed around this weekend. We were at a girl scout camp after all, a far cry from the table service and coffee-after-dinner we indulged in last year.

I signed up to stay in a lean-to, but then pivoted to setting up my tent right behind it for a better view of the lake and more privacy. I stayed quite warm at night in the tent, but I heard those in the cabins had quite a different experience. I was impressed, nonetheless, by the resolve from some of the more senior patrons that opted for the cabins, and the long, dark walk to the bathroom at night, instead of renting a hotel room down the street.

The whole camp was on a pretty steep hill, so talks were about a half mile walk directly uphill to where the majority of the speakers were, but the organizers (David McCheyne, Pauline Johnson, and their willing family members) were pretty organized in having shuttles running throughout the day.

The food was organized and provided by Olga Tzogas and her team at Smugtown Mushrooms (complimented by Wegman’s sandwiches for lunch). Meals were served school-cafeteria-style where you would line up and have soup, sides, and mains ladled onto your plate. The line would get a little gnarled, but otherwise there was plenty of food (unless you missed the grilled corn on Friday) and a fresh fruit station that you could help yourself to throughout the day.

The view of Lake Cayuga from my tent.

Science

This foray was unlike others in that there was an organized flow, facilitated by a dedicated set of volunteers, that made sure every mushroom collected was vouchered (recorded) and then had their DNA sequenced to confirm the identification. Microscopes were also set up to look at the spores of the more cryptic species.

This meant that after you returned with the mushrooms you found on your foray, you filled out field slips with information pertaining to the location, habitat, and a tentative identification. This was a rather sobering, administrative process that made you wish you found fewer mushrooms. However, it’s definitely “best-practice” in fungal science, as the majority of mushroom species are undescribed, and the thought of finding a new species is always tantalizing.

The total count from the weekend came in at over 1,000 mushrooms sequenced and 457 tentative species. The DNA sequencing was provided by Harte Singer who drove his van (a mobile lab) over from California.

Nathan Wilson, Deana Thomas, and the rest of the vouchering team (Erin, back turned, on the left and George seated behind Nathan). They made sure that every mushroom found was documented on mushroomobserver.org or iNaturalist.

Mushrooms

I stayed up way too late the first evening writing my last newsletter (which is definitely worth the read if you haven’t checked it out yet), and had planned to sleep in the next morning. However, I woke up about thirty minutes before the first foray and got hit with a pang of FOMOOM (Fear Of Missing Out On Mushrooms). I ended up rolling out of the tent in a fugue state, filling up my thermos with coffee, and headed out to quite possibly the driest woods I’d been in all year. Ironically, I did see one of the larger mushrooms you’ll find in the northeast, but otherwise that was it.

Northern Tooth (Climacodon septentrionalis)

A fungus that not only creates a heartrot in maples and beech trees (eating the already dead xylem cells), it can also prey on nematodes that eat fungal mycelium in the wood. The fungus produces a drop that encases the nematode and then slowly digests the microscopic worm.

On Saturday, we knew we had to change our approach. We had to go out of our way to look for moisture, and that meant we’d have to go rogue and circumvent the designated foray locations.

We put our heads together to figure out where we might find wetlands, which involved typing “bog” into google maps and picking the closest result, and that brought us to the O.D. Von Engeln Preserve. Our due diligence was rewarded and we found more mushrooms than we could document. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights:

Waxcaps (Hygrocybe sp.)

My favorite photo of the weekend. Tough to ID to species, but that’s why the DNA of each mushroom was sequenced.

Leaf Parachutes (Marasmius sp.)

These tiny mushrooms were growing out of a beech leaf, I believe, but we also found them on a maple leaf. The fungal mycelium decomposes leaf litter and then fruits directly from the leaves.

The Deceptive Milky (Lactifluus deceptivus)

The largest mushroom I found this weekend. This mushroom exudes a “milk”, a white latex, that is very peppery and thought to gum up the mandibles of fungivorous insects.

Amanita sinicoflava

A yellowish brown Amanita, and a young one at that. The drought made parts of the bog that were normally underwater now passable, and consequently terrestrial mushrooms could now fruit in the suddenly suitable habitat.

Stinking Parachute (Paragymnopus perforans)

Initially I thought this was Baeospora myosura, a species of mushroom that grows out of pine cones, but the dark, wiry stipe is definitely more characteristic of a Gymnopus or Marasmius.

Bog body (Bogbodia uda)

A particularly tall mushroom rising above the sphagnum moss. These mushrooms were everywhere. They could also be Hypholoma elongatum, but a microscope or DNA will elucidate that.

Pelargonium Webcap (Cortinarius flexipes)

A handsome Cortinarius that derives its common name from the supposed smell of geraniums. We didn’t pick up much odor from these, unfortunately.

Despite the overall lack of rain (it hadn’t rained there in three weeks), it was still a productive foray. I enjoyed all the keynotes, which were themed around women in mycology, and got to meet a lot of people that I previously only knew through online interactions. The New York Mycological Society runs an online zoom ID group every other week, and while the fifteen of us see each other fairly often online, it felt like an in-person reunion with the majority of us there in person.

I was also recruited to be the Massachusetts ambassador for the Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge, so you’ll be hearing more about that in the coming months. And to cap it all off, I sold eight shirts, so watch out Abercrombie & Fitch.

Walks this Week and Next

9AM on 9/25: Mushroom Walk with the Lakes Region Conservation Trust in Moltonborough, NH

10AM on 9/28 (just added): Mushroom Walk with the 300 Committee at Breivogel Ponds Conservation Area (Entrance off Thomas B. Landers Road).

10/5: NYMS Fungus Fest (not a walk, but a presentation on burn mushrooms of the northeast).

I’ve been bouncing around a bunch, and in fact I’m about to drive up to New Hampshire to do a walk for my friend Phil’s land trust once I hit send on this, but next week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled single species profile on Monday.

The equinox has come and gone, happy start of fall,

Aubrey