Too many mushrooms to name – the ‘problem’ of fungal biodiversity in South Africa, will be presented by Marieka Gryzenhout, co-author of Field Guide to Mushrooms published by Struik. The venue is RoomToGrow at Kirstenbosch by Zoom.
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The recent flurry of new field and pocket guides on South African mushrooms has done much to bring these fascinating organisms into public view. So far, around 200 species have been featured in these publications. This represents but a fraction of the number of mushroom and other fungal species that occur in South Africa – where, it is estimated, there are more than 171,000 species, with thousands of these native to the country.
While our fungal biodiversity is astounding, mycologists, biologists and other scientists are playing catch-up in the race to describe all the known and newly discovered species, and to identify those still unknown to science. At present, there are not enough qualified people to deal with the challenge of formally describing and cataloguing them (usually in the form of a scientific paper), and this lack of capacity could have a negative impact on research into this unique group. Despite these daunting challenges, this talk hopes to draw attention to this poorly studied, but commonly encountered, group of organisms.
There will be a Question & Answer session at the end – post your questions in the Zoom Q&A section.
The talk will be live-streamed onto the Struik Nature Club & Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Facebook pages on the day of the event.
‘Pocket Guide Mushrooms of South Africa’ & ‘Field Guide to Mushrooms & Other Fungi’ will be available at a 15% discount to registrants on the day of the talk and the week thereafter at the Kirstenbosch Garden Bookshop and BOTSOC online.
WHEN: Aug 4, 2021 10:30 AM
WHERE: On Zoom – Register HERE
See also Cape Town Green Map
