When: Thursday, Nov 1, 2018, 7:00 pm Where: Pacific Forestry Centre 506 West Burnside Road Saanich, BC What: Talk on "Mushroom mischief 2018: An expanding spectrum" Two decades have passed since the publication of Denis Benjamin’s Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas. This presentation is a critical review of more recently described toxic mushrooms and the ways that mushrooms might harm us. The presentation includes the tale of the ‘little white mushroom of Yunnan”, the stories behind angel wings and man-on-horseback, the neurological effects of morel gluttony, and the inherent dangers of foraging. Who: Dr. Denis Benjamin Denis R Benjamin, who grew up in South Africa, emigrated to the Pacific Northwest in 1970. He practiced pediatric pathology at the children’s hospitals in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Benjamin became an amateur mycologist soon after his arrival in the USA. He was a consultant to the regional poison control center, a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Puget Sound Mycological Society, and a past Chairman of the Toxicology Committee of the North American Mycological Association. In addition to nearly 100 professional publications, Dr. Benjamin has contributed to the lay literature and mushroom magazines. He is author of a book on the health effects of mushrooms (Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas) and recently published a collection of mushroom foraging essays (Musings of a Mushroom Hunter: A Natural History of Foraging). In recent years he has expanded his interest in mushrooms into watercolour art.
