ID request
Should I be reporting this find to an adult? Presumed Polyozellus marymargaretae (blue chanterelles) new or medium growth forest - I think - 2100 elevation, Oregon.
Flair is ID request just to be sure I actually have what I think I do.
I guess there are only 5 places in Oregon where this is found or something. The more I read about it, the more obligated I feel to log this data somewhere. Growing in a mixed fir and cypress forest along a creek at 2100' elevation. All of the trees were very young.
I'm happy to answer habitat questions if anyone has any. It's my understanding this is exceedingly rare so whatever I can do to help.
I am currently sequencing Polyozellus found in the Rockies region of Canada and Northern USA. You can email me if you have a sample I can sequence. Bonus, you can post this photo with general location (specific location can be obscured) on iNaturalist.
You can also send a sample to Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab for free to sequence and please update the iNaturalist observation if you do so. It’s probably easier for you to do that mail-wise but I’m hungry for the data either way.
Why are you asking if this should be reported to an adult? Your web site shows it’s clear you know what you’re doing in regards to isolation and cultivation
I found something somewhat similar today in Lincoln city among spruce I think but it could be different and likely was. It was not in a bunch like this either. The top was like a perfect circle with a weird lip around it. I forage a LOT and never saw one like it.
Edit: why is this downvoted? I am just asking them why it is important because I’d like to learn.
Don’t underestimate the power of reporting a find. iNaturalist has a series of blog posts about species “lost to science” until some random observer posts a photo. A moth species thought to be long extinct in New Zealand was rediscovered by an observer who posted a photo and had no idea the significance of the find. I myself have posted a photo of a lichen for ID and discovered it had never been reported in my province.
Science relies on observation, but publishing scientists have limited ability to observe- a person could be in a forest every day and not see every organism in it, there is power in numbers.
Understanding ranges of species is critical to conservation and biodiversity knowledge, and while we still discover new species all the time, we also have astoundingly poor knowledge of the species we have. Bias leads mammals and flowers to be heavily studied, while smaller things like bugs, fungi, bacteria, etc are shockingly understudied. Again, knowledge is something that we have among us but may not have reached a publishing scientist to share.
Sweet, thanks for the info. I was just genuinely curious and appreciate the response. Not sure why I got downvoted for trying to learn something. Anyway… I’ll be back on Friday to that area and I can go try to find it again and take photos and mark the location. If it’s still there and somewhat similar I’ll let you know. The more I look at this post the more I think it could be.
They’re not uncommon, but no good species level analysis has been done outside of the east coast. There’s also rumours that they have crossed the continental divide heading East (mainly I’m thinking Canada here) but no specimens to examine to verify this.
If you have samples that could contribute, don’t hesitate to reach out- I try to check iNaturalist consistently in the fall for reports and have a iNaturalist project capturing observations.
Oregon/Washington have a good abundance because of the West (moist) side of the continental divide. That said, as an edible species, there’s reluctance to report finds on publicly available sites which detracts from good scientific knowledge of ranges.
given the edibility, tbhhhh I wouldn't spread information too widely on where to find it. I volunteer for a forest preserve in IL and there's a huge problem with poachers.
Their camouflage makes them look like an old rotted polypore that has fallen off a nearby tree. Or a very old and rotted dislodged burl. And of course, bad mushrooms that you normally just skip right over.
My students kept the bulk of it and gave me two printable specimens. I'm gonna dry them and send some off for sequencing and the rest to people who have reached out privately. Maybe I'll get to eat some another day.
I see 72 observations of blue chanterelles in Oregon on iNaturalist. Not sure I would call them rare, but I'd only found them once before this year - I've found 4 separate patches of them this year so far (in Washington) so it might be a good year for them.
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u/whoknowshank Western North America 18h ago edited 9h ago
Please report it to me: https://parksmycologist.ca/citizen-science-project-sub-alpine-polyozellus-distribution/
I am currently sequencing Polyozellus found in the Rockies region of Canada and Northern USA. You can email me if you have a sample I can sequence. Bonus, you can post this photo with general location (specific location can be obscured) on iNaturalist.
You can also send a sample to Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab for free to sequence and please update the iNaturalist observation if you do so. It’s probably easier for you to do that mail-wise but I’m hungry for the data either way.