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  • Myxomycetes at Black Sugarloaf, northern Tasmania – a slime mo(u)ld hotspot

    Featured
    Virtual Event

    The taxonomic position of slime moulds has baffled naturalists and scientists for centuries. When “the father of taxonomy” Swedish botanists Carl Linneus devised his system of classification he included slime moulds (and fungi) in the plant kingdom. Slime moulds were subsequently placed in various kingdoms but are now regarded as amoebozoans.
    
Sarah Lloyd has observed slime moulds in a eucalypt forest at Birralee Tasmania for 13 years. It is now considered a hotspot for myxomycetes, with over 120 species documented from the site including 4 hitherto undescribed species, one new genus and more new species awaiting further study. In this webinar Sarah will discuss these and also describe the important ecological roles of slime moulds.

    Sarah Lloyd has had a lifelong love of birds, and since 1988 when she moved to live in a forest at Black Sugarloaf, Birralee in central north Tasmania, an interest in plants, bryophytes, fungi and slime moulds. She has contributed to several citizen science projects including the Australian Bird Count, and Fungimap, a project to record Australia’s undocumented fungal species. It was through Fungimap that Sarah was introduced to slime moulds. In 2019 she was awarded an OAM (Order of Australia medal) for “services to conservation – and slime moulds”. She is author of numerous books, including Where the Slime Moulds Creep (4th Edition, 2022).

  • The NYMS Winter Banquet is back!

    The banquet has been a storied part of the club's past back since the club's founding in 1962. I fact John Cage himself wrote to the club that "All that is necessary is an annual program of lectures and walks and a banquet." Our last banquet took place in February 2020, just before the pandemic closed everything down. Well, it's time to bring it back!

    We are very happy to invite you all to the NYMS winter banquet. This year we are going to explore a newly opened restaurant in Flushing, with a rather promising name, Mushroom Hot Pot. And since the Asian New year is this month, we can welcome it by partaking in some fungal goodness!

    The Mushroom Hot Pot is located at 36-55 Main Street, four blocks north (toward Northern boulevard) from the Flushing-Main Street stop on the 7 train (last stop). The restaurant offers a variety of dishes from across China, primarily focusing on Sichuan dishes, but the centerpiece is the non-spicy mushroom hotpot from Yunan province. For this dinner the vegan/vegetarian mushroom hot pot contains 4 different mushrooms (some shipped dried from Yunan) with vegetables, tofu and noodles. Complementing it will be five dishes focused on vegetables (some vegan, and ranging from medium spicy to spicy), and two Sichuan fish dishes with Sichuan peppercorns (so mala spicy!). Thus, there should be plenty options for vegetarians, and a good selection of vegan dishes! So please join the fellow club members and learn how various mushrooms are utilized in Sichuan and Yunan dishes!

    The number of attendees is limited to 108 due to the restaurant's space, so do not dilly dally if interested!

    $50

  • The genus Pluteus in North America: 100 species and counting

    Featured

    We will present an overview of the taxonomy and distribution of the species of Pluteus in North America based on morphological studies and molecular phylogenies. A total of 120 taxa (species and varieties) of Pluteus have been described from or reported in North America, but currently only c. 40 of these species have been confirmed to occur here, based on molecular data generated from North American voucher collections. We will discuss the ongoing, collaborative projects to clarify the status of old names in the genus, and to describe a good number on new species, through a combination of morphological and molecular approaches and collaboration with citizen-scientists.