What Happens at a Mushroom Foray?

If you have never attended a mushroom foray, imagine part field trip, part outdoor classroom, part biodiversity survey and part reunion of people who become unusually excited about finding fungi.

A foray is an organized excursion in which participants search for and study mushrooms and other fungi in a particular area.

The day often begins with groups heading into different habitats. Participants spread out along trails and through permitted collection areas, looking carefully at soil, fallen wood, moss, tree bases and leaf litter.

Beginners quickly discover one of the great advantages of exploring with experienced mycologists: someone is always noticing something you missed.

Collected specimens may later be brought back to a central location, organized and examined. Identification tables can transform into extraordinary displays of fungal diversity representing dozens or even hundreds of species found within a relatively small area.

But identification is only one part of the experience.

Forays may include lectures, workshops, photography, cultivation discussions, microscopy, culinary activities and conversations about taxonomy, conservation and toxicology.

They can also contribute to science.

For decades, NAMA forays have recorded fungal occurrences around North America. Since 1997, selected specimens have also been documented as vouchers, with records and preserved material becoming part of a permanent scientific collection. NAMA’s DNA Sequencing Committee now works alongside its vouchering efforts to obtain molecular data from specimens collected at annual and regional events.

For the individual participant, though, the experience is often much simpler.

You spend a day outside with people who are genuinely interested in what is growing around them.

You learn names. You ask questions. You see species you have never encountered before.

And somewhere along the way, a group of strangers standing around a tiny mushroom begins to feel remarkably like a community.