Kuujuaq Fungi: Species list

Kuujjuaq Species List


Fungi of the Kuujjuaq region, Nunavik, Quebec, Canada
Collections made 12-18 August 2007 by Lawrence Millman

In 2007, I received a grant from Nunavik’s Makivik Corporation to study the mushrooms in and around Kuujjuaq. This community, the largest in Nunavik, was ideally situated for mycological research, since it was both above and below the tree-line. Here are the results:

See also: Twenty Kuujjuaq Fungi, and the Project Report.

Southwest of communication towers (northern boreal forest):

Albatrellus confluens. Under tamarck. Uncommon.
Coltricia perennis. In moss and glacial till.
Cortinarius alboviolaceus (Silvery Violet Cort). Under spruce.
Cortinarius cinnamoneus (Cinnamon Cort). Near spruce.
Gloeophyllum sepiarium (Yellow-Red Gilled Polypore). On old pine boards near Mesher camp.
Lactarius rufus (Red Hot Milky). Poisonous. Under spruce.
Lactarius torminosus (Pink-Fringed Milky). Near spruce as well as birch.
Phellinus chrysoloma (Golden Spreading Polypore). On spruce log.
Russula emetica (The Sickener). Poisonous. In boggy area near spruce.
Spathularia flavida (Fairy Fan). Uncommon. On woody debris.
Trichaptum abietinum (Purple Toothed Polypore). On dead spruce stump.

North of Cape Whales (tundra):

Cortinarius balteatus. In moss near spruce.
Hygrocybe miniata (Fading Scarlet Waxy Cap). In moss.
Leccinum holopus (White Birch Bolete). Edible. Under dwarf birch.
Lactarius scrobiculatus (Spotted Stalk Milky). Near spruce.
Mycena epipterygia (Yellow Stalked Fairy Helmet). In moss

Between airport and Koksoak River (mixed habitat):

Agrocybe praecox (Spring Agrocybe). On humus above river.
Amanita vaginata (Grisette). In sedge.
Boletus badius (Bay Bolete). Edible. Under spruce.
Boletus variipes. Edible. Near spruce.
Collybia tuberosa (Tuberous Collybia). On decayed Russula cap.
Coprinus atramentarius (Inky Cap). On buried wood near fuel tanks.
Cortinarius bolaris. Uncommon. Near spruce.
Cortinarius sanguineus (Red Gilled Cort). In moss.
Cystoderma amianthinum (white variety). In moss.
Gomphidius nigricans (Blackening Gomphidius). Uncommon. Under spruce.
Hydnellum peckii (Bleeding Tooth). Near spruce.
Inocybe lacera (Torn Fiber Head). Poisonous. In grass near alder.
Inocybe sororia (Pungent Fiber Head). Poisonous. In gravel near tamarack.
Lactarius deliciosus (Orange Latex Milky). Edible. Near spruce.
Mycena griseoviridis. In humus.
Peziza badia (Red Cup). In sand and till.
Russula paludosa. In moss near spruce.
Thelephora caryophyllea (Carnation Fiber Vase). In sandy soil and till.
Thelephora terrestris (Common Fiber Vase). In sandy soil and till.

At Old Fort Chimo (boreal forest and tundra):

Amanita inaurata (Strangulated Amanita). In willow near tent rings.
Clitocybe clavipes (Fat Foot). On ground near old church.
Entoloma strictius (Straight Stalked Pinkgill). Poisonous. In moss near old church.
Laccaria laccata (Common Tallowgill). In sandy soil near tent rings.
Paxillus involutus (Poison Pax). Poisonous. Near dump north of old school.
Rozites caperata (Gypsy). Edible. In birch above new cemetery.
Russula fragilis (Fragile Russula). In moss near old school.
Serpula lacrimans (Dry Rot). Under fallen gravemarker in old cemetery.
Tectella patellaris (Veiled Panus). On willow branch near old church.

West of weather station (tundra):

Entoloma sinuatum (Lead Poisoner). Poisonous. Near birch.
Hygrocybe conica (Witch’s Hat). Poisonous. Near spruce.
Inocybe fastigiata (Straw Coloured Fiber head). Poisonous. In glacial till.
Lactarius uvidus (Violet Latex Milky). Poisonous. Near birch.
Leccinum atrostipitatum. Edible. Under dwarf birch.
Lycoperdon molle (Miniature Puffball). Edible. On sand and gravel near trails.
Russula adusta. Poisonous. Uncommon. Near spruce.

At all habitats:

Laccaria bicolor. In sandy soil, moss, or glacial till.
Lactarius representaneus (Northern Bearded Milky). Poisonous. Near spruce.
Leccinum insigne (Aspen Bolete). Edible. Near birch.
Leccinum scabrum (Birch Bolete). Edible. Near or under birch.
Lycoperdon gemmatum (Gemmed Puffball). Edible. In till, sandy soil, or along trails.
Russula albida (White Russula). In sandy soil or moss.
Russula dissimulans (Blackening Russula). In spruce, birch, and willow.
Russula lutea (Yellow Russula). Near birch.

Unidentified Species:

Lactarius (2), Russula (4), Inocybe (2), Cortinarius (2), Laccaria (1).

Kuujjuak Fungi
Proceed to the Project Report, or Twenty Mushrooms of Kuujjuaq.

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Why I Dropped Out of the Explorers Club

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Once upon a time the Explorers Club was one of the most prestigious organizations on the planet. Its past members included such eminences as Richard Peary, Thor Heyerdahl, Charles Lindbergh, Peter Freuchen, Tenzing Norgay, and Sir Edmund Hillary. But the Club has recently gone downhill to such a degree that actual exploration is no more a part of its agenda than, for instance, frisbee throwing.

The location of the Club’s headquarters — 46 East 70th Street on New York’s Upper East Side — offers a window on its nosedive. The Upper East Side is an upscale habitat where money is the lingua franca, and its denizens (who include many of the Club’s officers) speak it as their primary language. Certain Club members have been known to suggest that the Explorers Club should be renamed The Upper East Side Club. Attempts to relocate it to somewhere else have come to naught…for the same reason that you can’t relocate Wall Street.

In the last twenty or so years, the Club has revamped itself to attract the corporate sponsors who live around the metaphoric corner. To do this, its officers can’t say, “Hey, we’ve got a guy who’s searching for Thule Period Inuit sites on Jan Mayen Land.” The corporate types would blink their eyes uncomprehendingly. But those officers can say, “Here’s a guy who’s an aerospace biochemical engineer.” In fact, a Lowell Thomas Award was recently given to one such individual.

“Remote sensing” is a phrase that nowadays has considerable appeal to the Club’s technocratically-biased higher ups. As a prank, I sponsored a putative explorer named Albert Yetti, an Abominable Snowman expert who used remotesensing to find his subject so he wouldn’t have to leave his UpperEast Side abode. Albert Yetti would have been admitted to the Club if I hadn’t confessed that I created him.

I’ve been one of many members who hasn’t been eager to dance to the corporate drummer. A Club president — a fellow who put an anaerobic tent in his office and lived in it — did not appreciate our nay-saying and threatened to drag us, he said, “kicking and screaming into the 21st century.” To my mind, this is a lot like Henry Morton Stanley’s (of Stanley & Livingston fame) positive take on slaughtering his way across Africa to rescue Emin Pasha (who did not want to be rescued). “I opened it [Africa] to the civilizing influence of commercial enterprise,” Stanley said.

In 2017, I asked the Club whether I could give a presentation on my exploration of a remote part of Hudson Bay. “But you’re not an explorer,” I was told. This is true, if Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, both of whom have won major awards from the Club, are regarded as explorers. After all, I’ve made 40+ expeditions to the Arctic and Subarctic, but I’m not a technology entrepreneur. Indeed, I have no association whatsoever with either Tesla Motors or Amazon. I have explored a part of the Amazon, but doesn’t count…nor does the fact that I’ve been a Fellow of the Club since 1990.

“You’re not an explorer” was the proverbial final straw, and I let my membership in the Explorers Club lapse. In doing so, I was in good company, for Conrad Anker, Paul Theroux, etc, have also let their memberships lapse. I’m now planning to join the Whiskey Explorers Club, which I suspect is a much healthier organization.

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