How to Identify Wild Mushrooms in Canada
- 1). Check out mushroom field guides that focus on Canada, such as Dr. Orson Miller Jr. and Hope Miller's "North American Mushroom: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi." The field guide provides images and descriptions of wild mushrooms that grow frequently in Canada. It also provides you with some background on what's edible or medicinal and what isn't.
- 2). Join the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) or another group of mushroom enthusiasts and mycologists in Canada. Organizations like this keep you up-to-date on wild mushroom research in your area, offer lectures on wild mushrooms and can help you identify them. They also give you the opportunity to meet other people who are interested in wild mushrooms.
- 3). Go out with a guide. Organizations like NAMA and individual mycologists in the area often lead a "foray" where you can learn by doing: walking into a forest and identifying mushrooms with an expert. Since autumn is the best time for wild mushrooms in Canada, more guides will lead forays during this time.
- 4). Focus on the most common wild mushrooms in Canada. There are hundreds of species of wild mushroom native to Canada, and learning to identify three to five common species is a great way to start learning about them. Chicken of the woods, puffballs and red orange mycena are easy-to-identify wild mushrooms that you come across frequently in Canada.
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