How you can help turn the tide on P.E.I. mushroom research

"We know almost nothing about P.E.I. mushrooms," says Ken Sanderson, and he wants to change that.

Sanderson is part of a group that has established a page on iNaturalist to allow people to register their fungal finds on P.E.I. He suspects there are hundreds of species on the Island that have not been identified yet.

He noted a list in 1990 identified 1,200 species in Nova Scotia, but fewer than 100 on P.E.I.

"That's just what's known. No one's been doing research here up until now," said Sanderson.

The iNaturalist page has marked the province off into 100-square-kilometre squares. He is hoping to list at least 20 species in each of these squares. He expects more new species will be identified as reports come in from eastern and western parts of the province.

"More diversity of trees and habitat," Sanderson said.

"Central P.E.I. doesn't have a lot of really wet, boggy areas, but we do have boggy areas to the west of Summerside."

To participate Islanders just need to install the iNaturalist app on their phones and start uploading pictures of the mushrooms they find.

The iNaturalist page has already made a significant contribution, with more than 500 species identified. Apart from taking a wide variety of forms the fungi often come with colourful names: olive shaggy parasol, deceiver, black witches' butter, dog vomit slime mould.

Foraging for food

Sanderson was helping to identify mushrooms at a bring your own mushroom event hosted by Nature P.E.I. and the Island Nature Trust in Charlottetown Sunday evening, to encourage people to get involved in the initiative.

Carey Wood brought some mushrooms she had collected from her 20 hectares in Rose Valley, where she grows apples and blueberries, and also has some woodland. 

She sees a lot of different mushrooms on her property, she said.

"I haven't wanted to try anything," said Wood.

"We have started some wine caps out there, some shiitakes, and some oyster mushrooms for us to safely eat, but any of the ones we have foraged we haven't."

The samples she brought in couldn't be identified with 100 per cent certainty, so she still won't be eating them, she said, but she is hoping to learn more and start experimenting with cooking them.

It is not too difficult to get started on foraging wild mushrooms, said Sanderson.

Edible mushrooms are all around us, but you need to take the time to learn what's growing in your area, and how to differentiate the edible species from their poisonous lookalikes.

"Never eat something, whether it's a plant or a mushroom or something in your fridge, don't eat it unless you know what it is," he said.

Once you are certain you have found an edible mushroom, there are certain sustainability rules you should follow.

Don't collect the first ones you find because they could be the only ones. Don't collect more than a third of what you find, and of course only take what you need. In terms of harming the fungus, it doesn't matter if you cut or pull them, said Sanderson, but sometimes they need to be pulled in order to be identified.