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Show Botany students hunt Fungi Several Southern Utah State College students have first-hand appreciation for the beauties and rich abundance of the Pacific Northwest following their participation par-ticipation in a mushroom hunt in Oregon. The purpose of the five-day trip was to participate in the annual Daniel E. Stuntz Mycology Foray, named after a prominant University of Washington Mycology expert. "We had the distinction of traveling the furthest distance to attend the hunt," Brent C. DPalmer, associate professor of botany, said. About 130 persons, primarily professors and graduate students, collected specimens of fungi in the area of dense coniferous forest near Tillamook, Oregon. "Mycology is the study of fungi," Dr. Palmer said, "Unlike other plants, fungi are not green and do not make their own food. They are dependent on either living or dead plants and animals for their food source." "In fact, most of them are saprphytic, living on dead organic matter," Dr. Palmer explained. The SUSC group collected some 50 different species of fungi. "There were sword ferns waist high and the abundance of mosses and lichens in the area was amazing," Bonnie Turner, a junior botany major from Chicago, Illinois, said. "We were able to collect many types of fungi that aren't available in our own part of the country," she said. The SUSC group also visited the Oregon State University Plant Pathology Farm at Cor-vallis Cor-vallis and the Oregon State Marine Science Center at Newport. "We also spent . some time beach combing along the Pacific which was especially exciting since some of the students had never visited the coast," Dr. Palmer said. Students from SUSC who attended at-tended the foray were Lori Pratt, a freshman botany major from Cedar City; John Broderick, a junior zoology major from Springfield, 111.; Kevin Mansor, a senior botany major from Zion National Park; Jim Miller, a junior zoology major from Henderson, Nev.; and Mrs. Turner. Also accompaning the group was Steve Steffensen, Cedar Junior High science teacher, who made the trip to gather herbs-frogs herbs-frogs and salamanders. "The trip was an excellent learning experience," .Mrs. Turner said, "not only for the mushroom hunt but to visit another part of the country." Dr. Palmer notes that the annual mycology foray was sponsored by SUSC in 1973. It will be held next year at Boise State University. |