For our club's December meeting, please welcome Dr. Denis Benjamin, a well rounded mycologist who is best known for publishing a book about mushroom toxicity Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas two decades ago.  His talk for the December meet will focus on the same subject matter. 

Some of you may recall our guest from his watercolor class at NAMA this year.

Mushroom mischief 2016: An expanding spectrum

This presentation is a critical review of more recently described toxic mushrooms and other ways that mushrooms potentially harm us. This includes the ‘little white mushroom of Yunnan”, the stories behind angel wings and Man-on-horseback, the neurological effects of morel gluttony, the inherent dangers of foraging and others. These are told from a perspective of a pathologist, sometimes with a dark sense of humor.

Additional info about our speaker: Denis R Benjamin grew up in South Africa, emigrating to the Pacific Northwest in 1970. He practiced pediatric pathology at the children's hospitals in Seattle, Washington and Fort Worth, Texas. He became an amateur mycologist soon after his arrival in the USA. He is a Research Associate at the Botanic Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth. 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. He is frequent speaker at mushrooms clubs and societies. In addition to nearly 100 professional publications, he has contributed to the lay literature and mushroom magazines. He was chosen to be a community Op/Ed writer for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. He is author of the landmark 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). He is now in the process of becoming a watercolorist.