Mushrooms of Field and Forest

Hello!

Welcome to mushroom season. You'll need the password to view the lecture notes, assignments, and other goodies aside from the syllabus.

Download our class photo, 2009 (you're so good-looking!): big or small (password-protected--sorry world!).

Important Dates

• Sept 16 - last date to drop this course
• Sept 23 - short quiz in evening lab
• Oct 21 - FINAL 'bellringer' exam
• Oct 28 - Collection/blog assignments due

Collection Assignment Notes:

• Specimen Collection: Review the instructions in the assignment handout.
• Specimens must include locality information. You can find that here.
• Include a photo (from our flickr site?) or drawing, or if not, be sure your specimen notes are clear and detailed.
• Hand in your collection by 4:30 on Oct 28. Kathie is in 401 Plant Science. Do come say hi, or you may drop it quietly off at the main Plant Path office, 334 Pl Sci.
• Blog assignment: email to kh11@cornell.edu as a Word, rtf, or txt document. Please submit images as separate attachments (don't insert them into your Word file). If possible, submit large image files that I can then crop and tweak to fit the blog format. Let me know whether you'd like your name to appear with your article on the blog, otherwise I'll post them anonymously.

Class mushroom photos on flickr

Visit our class flickr site to view photos taken on each field trip. You can download your favorite photos for the collection assignment or for your records. flickr is a public photo sharing site, and our photos are viewable by the general public. I don't post any personal information, and I don't post photos of recognizable faces. You can add information to the photos by posting comments in flickr. If you took photos of your own on our trips and you'd like to add them to our flickr set, email them to Prof. Hodge.

www.flickr.com

Have a rotten day this semester

Mushrooms of Field and Forest meets Wednesday afternoons and evenings for the first half of Fall semester. We travel to various forests around Ithaca to collect mushrooms, then return for an evening lab session in which we learn to identify and appreciate them. You'll use microscopes and keys to identify the things you collect.

It's a pretty fun course. It is listed at the 3000-level to indicate that it is a serious course, and that you can expect to work fairly independantly. Grades are based upon a collection assignment, a quiz, and a final practical exam. No auditors are allowed, I'm afraid, unless you are an alumna/us of the course.

Books for the Class

This is the book I most strongly recommend :

Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, by A. Bessette et al. Syracuse University Press, 1997 (softcover) ISBN: 0815603886. (comprehensive, has keys, is technically best, but has smallish photos--my favorite)

Other mushroom guides are good too--explore them on our shelves in the lab. Be sure yours isn't too old (pre-1980s), or from Europe. Check with me if you're not sure.