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CURATORS

Dr. Andrew N. Miller, Fungi Curator
Dr. J. Leland Crane, Fungi Curator Emeritus

ABOUT THE FUNGI COLLECTION

Fungi represent the second largest group of organisms, second only to insects in the number of species estimated to occur on earth. Fungi can be divided into four large groups: Basidiomycota (mushrooms), Ascomycota (cup fungi, yeasts), Zygomycota (bread molds), and Chytridiomycota (chytrids). Other organisms traditionally studied by mycologists, but no longer classified in the Kingdom Fungi, include the Myxomycetes (slime molds) and Oomycetes (water molds).

The Illinois Natural History Survey (ILLS) Mycology Collection contains over 58,000 collections including 12,000 basidiomycetes, 13,500 ascomycetes, 15,000 imperfect fungi, 8,800 lichens, 1,200 zygomycetes and oomycetes, and 1,400 myxomycetes. The collection also possesses 917 type specimens, mostly ascomycetes and imperfect fungi, including 235 holotypes and 682 isotypes and/or paratypes. All collections have been identified to genus and most to species. Collection information for all collections have been entered into the fungal database. The fungi are mostly collected from throughout North America with a large plant pathological collection from Illinois, a large aquatic ascomycete collection from the United States and Canada, and a smaller ascomycete collection from the neotropics.

The mycological collections of the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign originated with the rust collection of A.B. Seymour (1881-1886) and the powdery mildew collection of T.J. Burrill (1882-1885). These collections were integrated and housed in the Natural History Building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign until 1921, when the plant disease specimens were segregated and became the basis for the plant disease collection of the Illinois Natural History Survey. The program for collecting, identifying, and preserving plant disease specimens originated in 1881 and was expanded between 1921 and 1924 when special emphasis was placed on obtaining information on plant disease in the state. By 1924, 18,000 plant disease specimens had been added to the collection.

Gilbert L. Stout (1926-1930) was the first plant pathologist to concentrate on surveying plant disease in Illinois; he was succeeded by Gideon H. Boewe (1930-1966). Boewe's interest was the incidence, distribution, and severity of plant diseases. His specimens, together with those of Leo R. Tehon (1921-1954), who specialized in Ascomycetes and Fungi Imperfecti that cause plant disease, form a substantial part of the Survey's mycological collection.

James C. Carter (1934-1974) was an authority on the diseases of shade trees and ornamentals. His special interest was pathogenic fungi of woody ornamentals and he contributed numerous specimens to the mycological collection. J. Leland Crane (1967-2001) succeeded Boewe, and to date he has contributed over 4,000 specimens of Ascomycetes and Fungi Imperfecti from decaying substrates in aquatic systems. In 2004, Andrew N. Miller succeeded Crane as mycologist and is currently adding specimens of Basidiomycetes and terrestrial Ascomycetes to the Illinois Natural History Survey mycological collections.

* Primarily excerpted from Crane, J.L. and P.P Tazik. 1992. Catalog of types of the Illinois Natural History Survey mycological collections (ILLS). Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 34(6): 535–550.

OUTREACH

Please phone Mike Jeffords (217) 333-5986 for more information.

LINKS

• Mushroom Identification