It's the Brian Ler Show here on WNYC. I'm Tiffany Hanson in for Brian.

Today. He will be back on Monday. We're taking a right turn now into mushrooms, something

you might see at the farmer's market or maybe

sprouting from a rotting log. Of course, New York City, despite of all of our concrete and our

steel has a very rich fungal ecosystem of its own, believe it or not, from Central Park to

obscure corners of Staten Island, mushrooms of all shapes,

sizes, scientific names are quietly thriving here. And there's one group of New Yorkers paying

very close attention. That group is the New York Micological, and I hope I'm saying that right,

and we'll ask our guest, that's the

NYMS, the New York Micological Society. You may have read about them. In the New York Times

this week, the reporter Andy Newman had a great article with the headline hunting the wild

mushrooms of New York City, and so we're going to talk with Ethan Crenson, who is president of the NYMS,

about mushrooms. That club welcomes culinary enthusiasts, become a hub for citizens, taxonomists,

anybody tracking fungi in the five boroughs. So Ethan, welcome. And did I say it right?

Yes, you did. Thank you for having me on.

I'm really delighted to be here. Absolutely. Listeners, what are the weirdest, most beautiful mushrooms that you've seen in and around the five boroughs? Call us. Text us 21, 233-9-692-212-4-33

W-W-NYC. So first of all, Ethan, tell us about the society. Who is it? What is it? What do you guys do?

New York Mycological Society is a very diverse group of people who just love mushrooms and other fungi.

It was founded in 1962 by the avant-garde composer and artist John Cage,

who was asked to teach a class at the new school for social research in composition,

and really didn't want to do that for some reason.

So as a compromise, he taught a class in mushroom identification in exchange for also teaching the composition class.

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