Fungus Naturalist Night

Admission: $5 for members and $10 for non-members of the museum

Mushrooms are ubiquitous, delicious, and sometimes deadly. Among the oldest living things on Earth, mushrooms have played a role in almost every culture for nearly 10,000 years. Learn more about our local mushrooms with guest speakers from the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. This evening program will help you identify a variety of fungi found in our county and know which are edible or poisonous.

About our speakers: philPhil Carpenter joined the FFSC the year it was formed and has been an active member ever since. He is adept at mushroom taxonomy, and serves as a resource for the local hospitals on mushroom poisoning cases. He also teaches mushroom identification classes for the Fungus Federation, for local park districts, for local and distant colleges and for private and institutional organizations throughout central California.
Henry Young is an amateur mycologist who has collected and studied fungi for over 30 years. He joined the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz in 1986 and has been a board member since 1987. He has been a contributor to mushroom identification for the Santa Cruz and San Francisco Fungus Fairs. His name is on the call list at local hospitals to help identify mushrooms in poisoning cases. Young has led several forays at nearby state parks, and with Phil Carpenter, he has taken groups of students out to hunt during mushroom season. Besides a general interest in all types of fungi Henry has a particular interest in ascomycetes and lichens.