New York Botanical Garden Mushroom Programs

The New York Botanical Garden has been a mycological presence in New York City since its founding in the 1800s. It has been the workplace of the mycologists Lucien Underwood, Howard Bigelow, Clark Rogerson, Harry Thiers, Samuel Ristich, Roy Halling, Barbara Thiers and Gary Lincoff.
NYBG presents programs every year in mycological studies. Here are the upcoming events for the Spring & Summer 2018.

THE HIDDEN WORLD OF LICHENS

Instructor: James Lendemer

Rock pimples, fog fingers, old man’s beard— their common names are amusing, but lichens are among Earth’s most amazing and oldest living things, and display incredibly beautiful colors and shapes. They grow on bark, rock, and barren soil, and thrive in rain forests, deserts, the arctic—even environments simulating Mars! Lichens are sensitive environmental indicators, yet scientists are only just beginning to understand them. Join noted NYBG lichenologist James Lendemer for a captivating session that includes a microscope lab and a lichen hunt on the Garden grounds. Dress for the weather.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018, from 10:00am to 01:00pm, at the NYBG location

MUSHROOM PAPERMAKING

Instructor: Dorothy Smullen

Use bracket fungi to create beautiful, earth-toned sheets of paper under the expert guidance of mycologist Dorothy Smullen. This hands-on class will walk you step-by-step through the papermaking process, and introduce you to the many different mushrooms you can use for a variety of hues. Your friends will be Instagramming your thank you cards in no time.

Saturday, April 7, 2018, from 11:00am to 02:30am, at the NYBG location

SPRING MUSHROOMS

Instructor: Paul Sadowski

Morels, though hard to spot, occur throughout the metropolitan region, and spring is the ideal time to find them. Discover how and where to hunt for them, as well as numerous other spring mushrooms including oysters, inky caps, wine caps, dryad’s saddle, reishi, and the early-spring chicken mushroom. Learn to correctly identify mushrooms, how to differentiate them from look-alikes, and get recipes for the best ways to prepare them in a meal.

Wednesdays, 05/23/18 & 05/30/18 10:00am – 01:00pm, Midtown Center, Room A

MUSHROOMS & MYCORRHIZAE

Instructor: Roy Halling, Ph.D.

Join Dr. Roy Halling, NYBG’s Curator of Mycology, on an insider’s tour of the Thain Family Forest. A widely published expert on mushrooms around the world (and featured on the podcast Radio Lab!), Dr. Halling will discuss how mushrooms contribute to a forest’s health, delving into the process by which mycorrhizal roots share water and nutrients with their tree partners in exchange for carbohydrates. You’ll gather a variety of mushrooms to dissect and observe under microscopes, using stains to distinguish between plant and fungal material.

Friday, August 10, 2018, from 10:00am to 01:00pm, at the NYBG location