I am a mycologist, public speaker, biohacker and photographer currently based in El Cerrito, California.
I've been studying mushrooms since 2001, and concentrate on California, Mexico and South America. I like photography, DNA barcoding and microscopy.
Coprinopsis section Coprinopsis photographed yesterday in Tandayapa, Ecuador.
One of my favorite flowers, Lopezia racemosa. Second photo in 365 nanometer ultraviolet. The native range of this plant is Mexico through Central America. Extremely rare in cultivation - grown in California by Alan Rockefeller and @crime_pays_but_botany_doesnt - seed collected in Michoacán.
The interior of the peridioles of Nidula niveotomentosa (a birds nest fungus) have surprising green fluorescence in 365 nanometer UV light. Photographed yesterday in Mendocino County, California.
Sliced in half with a sharp razor blade.
In 2025 I made 3000 iNaturalist observations and found 1582 species, 682 of them I had never seen before. I made 46,000 identifications for other people. I did a 5 month road trip to the southwest and east coast, went to Ecuador twice and Costa Rica once.
I also did a lot of Python programming this year - I built a program that replaces Lightroom for my photography and works a lot better, an online iNaturalist/MO label generator, I released everything open source license on my Github.
Joey from Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't and I are leading a two-week trip to Ecuador this February with local botanists, mycologists, and herpetologists. Details at www.mycena.llc
The trip includes workshops on plant and mushroom identification, taxonomy, and photography techniques.
I will be giving a talk on psilocybin mushrooms Dec 10 in Berkeley, California. Chad Hyatt will be there serving tacos.
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm - $20 in-person, $15 streaming
Metacampanella subdendrophora growing on scotch broom in Pacific County, Washington.
Mycena tenerrima from Pacific County, Washington. This tiny and widespread Mycena is in Mycena sect. Sacchariferae due to the powdery cap texture, stem with long setae and disc at the stem base.
Psilocybe azurescens in 365 nm ultraviolet light + white light. Seen a couple days ago in Pacific County, Washington.
An undescribed Mycena from the M. amicta group photographed yesterday in Aberdeen, Washington. This group of species is recognizable due to the blue colors, especially on the stem base and the conspicuous setae on the stem.
