People were skeptical — how are you going to find a mushroom in December? But upwards of two dozen people, ranging in ages from four to 87, showed up on a cold Saturday, Dec. 7 to find out.
Mycologist Lawrence Millman, hosted by Kim Gaffett and the Rhode Island Natural History Survey, led a walk through the Boy Scout Camp at the end of Connecticut Avenue in search of what turned out to be not-so-elusive fungi.
There are two types of fungi, Millman told the crowd: those that disperse their spores downwards, such as the toadstool and button type mushrooms, typically found during September and October, and those that disperse their spores upwards, from a shallow cup-like structure attached to a log. It was the latter we were after, although one of the former type was found.
Once in the woods of the camp, plenty of examples were found. There were tiny fungi that looked like mere black specks attached to logs, and larger ones more obvious to the eye. There were even fungi on the bottom of a plank from a wooden picnic table.
Millman explained the