Pam O’Sullivan will give an overview of the Boletaceae family in Australia, including history, characteristics and species list. Following this she will delve into more detail about a number of species, including some which are rare, some which are common, and some which are particularly interesting, including how to identify them.

Pam O’Sullivan has had an interest in fungi spanning over 50 years. She studied a Bachelor of Science at UNE majoring in Botany and Physical Geography, where she realised how important fungi are in natural ecosystems and studied all available topics on mycology. She worked in the Scientific Division of the National Herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney as a Technical Officer, and has lectured, tutored and been a conjoint at the University of Newcastle, including about fungi in the course on flora. For decades she has promoted the awareness and importance of fungi with presentations and workshops in numerous forums from the north coast down to Cooma and the south coast of NSW. She acted as a fungal moderator for three NatureMap Groups that covered most of southern NSW and Canberra as well as coastal regions up to Wollongong and Bowral. She has attended numerous mycological conferences and workshops where she established a network of national and international mycologists, including an inaugural symposium on fungi at Kew Gardens. She attended a Mycoblitz on Queensland’s Atherton Tableland, working with a team of renowned international and national Mycologists to survey and document fungi in the region. As a Fungimap committee member she was part of a team with leading mycologists from around Australia that surveyed the post fire fungi on Kangaroo Island in 2008. She co-authored ‘A guide to Common Fungi of the Hunter-Central Rivers Region’, and is currently working on a book on Boletes with Dr Roy Halling, curator of mycology at the New York Botanic Gardens and one of world’s leading experts on Boletes.  

Jess Bamford is the co-creator of Wild Webcap, a project surveying the diversity and distribution of Cortinarius in the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges. This talk will mainly focus on the findings of the 2022-2023 season pilot project, funded by the Fungimap Spore Grant, including species diversity across the SMLR region. We will also discuss the ecological significance of Cortinarius, some identification tips and future plans for Wild Webcap.