An Interview with Donald Huffman: Part 2

Tell us about the history of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States and about your coauthors.
 
I became interested in preparing a book about Iowa mushrooms about 1980 after several years of attending forays held by the North American Mycological Association, an organization with perhaps 25 professional mycologists who encouraged and worked with serious amateurs. 
     

My initial intent was to publish a small guide to some of the common mushrooms in Iowa. I had accumulated a fair-size collection of photos and thought I could prepare a book similar to those which NAMA members had published in other states. As I began to organize the book, I realized that if I attempted it alone, it would take me several years to complete.
    

For several years I had exchanged mushroom information with Lois Tiffany at Iowa State University. I called her to ask whether she would be interested in joining a mushroom book project. As usual, Lois was positive in her response. She asked if we could include George Knaphus, a botany teacher at ISU and a talented photographer who took the majority of mushroom photos which she used in her teaching materials. Beginning in 1981, we met nearly every month to look at photos, discuss the organization of the book, and share mushroom interests. 
    

It became evident that Dr. K’s mushroom photos were much better than most of mine. We realized that our area of collection was actually larger than Iowa alone, so we developed the concept of a regional book that would include the habitats we had collected from most heavily. Iowa State University Press published the book in 1989, and the 3,500 copies were sold out by about 1995.
     

In 2003, Holly Carver of the University of Iowa Press asked whether we would be interested in preparing a laminated guide to common mushrooms of Iowa. Lois and I agreed to prepare this, and it has been in print since 2004. George Knaphus had passed away, and Lois suggested that Rosanne Healy, a graduate student and departmental employee at ISU, join us in our effort. Holly then asked whether we’d consider preparing a 2d edition of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States. Rosanne Healy had by that time become a talented mushroom collector and photographer. Lois and I agreed that if Rosanne would join the project, we would prepare the 2d edition of MOFMUS.
    

After many meetings, the 2d edition of our MOFMUS was published by the University of Iowa Press in March 2008. We included George Knaphus as a collaborative author because of his major contributions of the 1st edition, and we added Rosanne as an author because of her excellent photos, her descriptions of truffles and false truffles, and her major editorial and photographic contributions.

What has changed in the outdoor world since your first days of trying to learn about it and protect it?
My earliest memories regarding environmental problems are related to the Dust Bowl Days in Kansas, where I grew up. On several occasions we were sent home from school as the dusty winds darkened skies and left their mark on the Midwest. I remember placing damp cloths on window sills and at the base of doors to keep dust from blowing into the house. Our parents told us that these storms were the result of unwise agricultural practices in the Midwest along with an elongated drought.

It seems to me that we had greater access to natural areas when I was young. There were fewer fences, and we picnicked or hiked nearly anywhere without feeling like intruders. I think we have greater and better governmental oversight of natural areas than we had in my early years. I am not sure whether this has actually improved the respect and care of natural areas, but it at least reflects society’s concern to avoid unnecessary neglect and misuse of natural resources.

I have been sensitized to a greater extent to the problem of overpopulation; throughout the world, this remains a major problem regarding environmental damage and adequate food for everyone. I see this concern as a moral imperative, and I hope I stressed this sufficiently in my last years of teaching university-level biology.

 

Hypsizygus ulmarius (Bull.) Redhead (plate 81); edible

Elm Pleurotus
    Cap 8–12 cm broad, rounded to flattened to somewhat depressed; white to buff; small scales on surface; margin inrolled at first. Flesh firm; white.
    Gills adnexed, moderately separated, broad; white to cream.
    Stalk 5–10 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm thick, nearly equal but sometimes expanded at base; white to sometimes yellowish at maturity; dry whitish hairs at top to nearly smooth in lower area.
    Spores 5–8 x 4.5–7 µm, nearly round, smooth; spore print white to buff.
    Single to clusters of two or three on hardwoods, particularly from branch scar sites on living or dead elms and box elders; fall.
    This edible species has a very tough stalk. The flavor is somewhat like that of Pleurotus ostreatus, which we consider a good edible mushroom. This late fall mushroom dries well and can be seen on trees into the winter. It was formerly called Pleurotus ulmarius.

Photograph & caption from Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States: Second Edition

Plant of the Week

 

Prairie turnip

Psoralea esculenta Pursh
scientific name, 2008: Pediomelum esculentum (Pursh) Rydb.
other common names: breadroot, pomme blanche, pomme de prairie, prairie potato, tipsin, tipsinna
Psoralea: from Greek, meaning “scurfy” or “scabby,” from the glandular spots on the leaves, stem, and calyx
Esculenta: from Latin esculentus, meaning “fit for food”
Legume family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

An Interview with Donald Huffman: Part 1

What was the catalyst—the magic moment—that brought you to appreciate mushrooms in the first place? How long have you been studying them?

I grew up as one of seven children of a father who was a high school biology teacher, but I didn’t pay much attention to mushrooms until I encountered them in a college course called Plant Morphology. I can remember being fascinated with the varied novelties in life cycles of the fungi we studied, and I wondered at that time why the life cycles of other “plants” were less interesting. At the time I was preparing for graduate work in plant pathology, and I kept this as my goal throughout my graduate work.
    

At Iowa State University, I enrolled in a three-quarter-term sequence of mycology taught by Dr. Joseph Gilman. Lois Tiffany, a recent PhD who had studied mycology under Gilman, was in a lab with 3 other graduate students and me. Professor Gilman increased my interest in morphological variability in fungi with lots of time spent on the microscopic aspects of fungi. Lois assisted most of us grad students with more exposure to mushrooms, and by the time I finished my PhD in plant pathology I found fungi to be more interesting than plant pathology. 


Two years after taking a position at Kansas State University in plant pathology, I accepted a position as biologist at Central College in Pella, Iowa. Teaching botany and genetics, I spent a lot of time in the field and found some interesting mushrooms. It became clear to me that in my teaching position, it was advantageous to work more with fungi and less with plant diseases, which required extensive field studies. In 1961 I accepted an National Institutes of Health postdoctoral position at Columbia University with the well-known mycologist Lindsay Olive. After that I began studying mushrooms seriously.
So the “magic moment” for me was spread over quite a period of time. Appreciation of mushrooms really gelled for me while working on the 1st edition of Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States, with the very supportive collaboration of Lois Tiffany and George Knaphus.

Photograph & caption from Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States: Second Edition

Agaricus campestris L.: Fr. (plate 7); edible
Meadow Mushroom, Pink Bottom
    Cap 3–10 cm broad, convex to nearly flat at maturity; white, becoming light brown or darker; smooth to fibrillose. Flesh firm; white or brownish, unchanging or slowly turning brownish when cut.
    Gills free, crowded, narrow; pink, maturing to purple brown.
    Stalk 3–6 cm long, 1–2.5 cm thick, equal; white and smooth above annulus, white and hairy below; same color as cap at maturity.
    Annulus one single layer, thin, sometimes disappearing.
    Spores 6–7.5 x 4–5 µm, ovoid to elliptical; spore print dark chocolate brown.
    Scattered to abundant in lawns, meadows, and pastures following rains and cool weather; spring, summer, fall.
    This delicious common mushroom is closely related to the cultivar A. hortensis, which is grown commercially. The characteristic bright pink, free gills and the brown spore print clearly distinguish this mushroom from the white-spored Amanitas.


Beyond mycology, what other plants and animals are you especially interested in?
I’ve been interested in only a few other organisms, and for the most part I had these interests well before I became a biologist. I did not find much interest in green plants or in birds, both of which my father enjoyed studying.
    

When I was 4 or 5 years old, my brothers and I kept pet box turtles. We painted our initials or numbers on the top of each shell. This made it possible to have turtle races in the basement in winter and in the backyard in warmer weather. I don’t really think I was much interested in them except for the thrill of the races. From about age 12 until 16, I was quite interested in snakes. I kept a few in captivity, mostly blue racers, milk snakes, garter snakes, and black snakes.  One of my prize snakes was not a snake but a glass snake, a legless lizard with a shiny body that broke off its tail section when threatened. I kept the glass snake for more than a year, but the regrowth of the tail was very slow. Later in life I really had no interest in snakes, though I encountered them plenty of times while hiking. I was never very happy to be bitten by a snake.
    

Our family had a series of bulldogs—Boston bulls—and I really was interested in them, not only as pets but as companions in the hiking and camping we did in the summers. My main interests were in training the dogs to do specific tasks. I’m still fond of dogs and can’t imagine being without one. 
    

It has always amazed me how interested some people can be in a given group of organisms. I’d bet most of this interest came from an outstanding teacher who emphasized experimental studies in research efforts.