Searching for mushrooms for science | Mo | 11 09 2023 | 3:30 pm

September 11, 2023 at 3:30 pm

At the end of the 1980s, a mushroom researcher from the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz established a working group on local mushrooms in collaboration with a food inspector from the municipal authorities. The goal of the working group to date is to systematically map the presence of the fungus throughout Styria. About twenty volunteer members gather each month under the direction of mushroom researcher Gernot Friebes to record all the mushrooms that can be found in a given area. Again and again they come across a type of mushroom that has never been found in Styria before. The sample is then dried in a desiccator and included in the Joanneum’s mushroom herbarium, which currently contains 35,000 mushrooms. The Working Group on Indigenous Mushrooms also targets private mushroom hunters. On the one hand, excursions are offered, and on the other hand, regular evenings are held in the Joanneum, where mushrooms brought in are recognized by specialists according to their type.

Side Notes: Vincent Leeb
Moderation and direction: Lukas Trimitsberger