Pray for rain and keep your eyes on the ground.

Sprouting beneath logs and nestled underfoot, local forests host a wide menu of wild mushrooms. All it takes to bring it from the woods to the table is a little know-how and a taste for adventure.

“When people say they don’t like the taste of mushrooms they usually mean they don’t like the taste of the extraordinarily bland supermarket button mushroom. I don’t blame them,” says Metchosin fungi enthusiast Andy MacKinnon. “But there’s huge variety in the taste and texture of wild mushrooms — some are spicy, some mild, some are sweet, some bitter, some meaty and some fleshy and some chewy.”

There are more types of mushrooms in B.C. than there are plant species, he says. And while there are between 3,000 and 4,000 suspected varieties, there isn’t a very good list. Mushrooms are not widely studied by academics, although you will find a lot of knowledgeable, avid amateurs, MacKinnon says.

“The vast majority of mushrooms are not particularly tasty and are not poisonous,” MacKinnon says. “There are mushrooms that are poisonous but it’s not a reason to panic.”

People fear fungi, perhaps because it isn’t as common in Canada to pick your own as in European countries, he says. There are deadly mushrooms, but many offer taste over toxins, he adds. It’s a matter of knowing the difference.

Almost all of the large mushrooms that people like to gather are attached to the roots of trees, mainly conifers. The mushroom itself is the flowering body of a fungus — similar to apples on an apple tree.

“The whole forest underground is connected by these fungi,” he says, noting their filaments spread under the forest floor year round.

Without each other trees and fungi would suffer, MacKinnon says. The tree supplies sugars from photosynthesis to the fungus, while the fungus draws water and nutrients up to share with the tree. Following a heavy rain, the fungus produces a mushroom to spread its spores.

Picking mushrooms can be intimidating at first, but a good place to start is getting to know members of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS), MacKinnon says. The society is hosting a wild mushroom show Oct. 25 to help introduce people to the bounty growing nearby.

Many people enjoy foraging for themselves, but there is big money in fungi. Wild mushrooms are the most economically valuable non-timber forest product in the province. The value varies from year to year, but it ranges from $25 to $40 million annually, said Anne Munier with the Centre for Non-Timber Resources at Royal Roads University.

“Local markets for wild mushrooms appear to be growing, but the bulk are exported,” Munier said. “Pine mushrooms are the biggest revenue generators and go mainly to Asia. Chanterelles, morels and boletes go mainly to Europe.”

It’s a hard market to get a true estimate on because it is completely unregulated. Most transactions happen in cash and there is no official way to tax sales, MacKinnon says. It’s the lack of regulation that works to the benefit of small-scale pickers, he adds. As long as people are careful not to damage the underlying fungi, mushrooms will continue to sprout under the right conditions.

“It’s a wild west out there,” MacKinnon says. “Pickers are not licensed. The buyers are not licensed.”

Whether people are interested in free wild food or just curious about local mushrooms, this is the time of year to go exploring, he says.

“I encourage everyone to go for a stroll in the woods this autumn, and look down at the marvels on the forest floor,” he says. “A few of these people will want to learn more about these fabulous fungi.”

The SVIMS wild mushroom show is Sunday, Oct. 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Swan Lake nature house, 3873 Swan Rd. Admission by donation. To learn more about the society go to www.svims.ca.

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com