Functional mushrooms in the bedroom

Hi there 🍄 , this week’s highlights include how to identify toxic mushrooms and a new book on fungi and indigenous wisdom, out in October.

Putting the “fun” in functional

The Viagras of the mushroom kingdom ⚡️ Functional mushrooms have aphrodisiac qualities celebrated for centuries in cultures like China and Japan. From increasing sperm count to improving female fertility, mushrooms are appearing in more sexual health research. The star players? Cordyceps is known for increasing sex drive, and chaga has been associated with higher testosterone levels. One mushroom, however, carries the nickname “Magic Mushroom of the Bedroom,” and that’s Queen Reishi.

Read more about mushrooms as aphrodisiacs.

White gills kill, sometimes…

Fall foraging 🍂 With cases of mushroom poisonings on the rise worldwide and a slurry of false mushroom ID books on Amazon thanks to AI, it’s been a year. Our guide to toxic mushrooms, written by editor Seraiah Alexander, is an in-depth look at the poisonous compounds, varieties, and common edible lookalikes you may run across in your forest jaunts. If you head out this fall, remember to practice ethical wildcrafting and leave more for the forest floor and leave more for the forest floor.

Read more about toxic mushroom identification.

Around the web 🌱 

• Futurity spoke to professors at Texas A&M University about the new study that identified a way to potentially remove microplastics from water with fungi.

• Spend a few moments with Randy Riley, a professional forager in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Times caught up with him in a recent profile where his best day is one where he doesn’t lose money on gas.

• Let’s Become Fungal! Mycelium Teaching and the Arts by Yasmine Ostendord-Rodriguez is on my October reading list after this fantastic interview and profile with It’s Nice That.

Featured artist: Alison Pollack

Allison Pollack is a slime mold photographer whose work spotlights the diverse worlds of the miniature. Her macro photography of slime molds and fungi expresses their movement through their individual features, be it yellow fur, iridescent slime, or thin wisps. Her essay, “Tiny Treasures of the Forest” in the Winter 2020 issue of FUNGI, is a feast for the eyes full of the beautiful flowering forms.