About the society.

The Danish Mycological Society was formed in 1905 in Copenhagen in order to gather both the professional mycologists and the amateurs in the same society. At the moment (1996) there are about 1600 members. The main interest for most of the members of the society now is collecting edible mushrooms, but some members focus on regular scientific studies. Denmark has very few professional mycologists working on macrofungi. Even some of the most famous Danish mycologists were amateurs, e.g. F. H. Møller and M. P. Christiansen. In the start almost all activities were centered around Copenhagen, but recently several local committees all over the country have been formed, spreading the activities accordingly. The two main centers are found in Copenhagen and in Aarhus. The Society organises every year many excursions, primarily in the surroundings of the major cities, but also tries to spread the activities all over the country. Mushroom-exhibitions are on display one weekend every year in both Copenhagen and Aarhus, together with courses on the indentification of macrofungi. Of course the main part of the activity of the society takes place in the main mushroom season, which in Denmark is from mid August to late October, depending on rainfall and temperature. The main part of the excursions are aimed at collecting edible mushrooms, but several excursions are more specialized: Looking for e. g. truffles, small discomycetes, pyrenomycetes or specific genera of agarics.

The Society issued at the start the "Proceedings of the Danish Mycological Society", but it soon became evident that a regular journal was needed, and in 1935 the first issue of "Friesia" was published as a joint journal of the Nordic mycologists. "Friesia" was discontinued in 1980, where it was decided to start a bulletin for the Danish society, called "Svampe" (means Mushrooms or Fungi). "Svampe" is issued twice a year and contains both membership news as well as more scientific articles. The language is Danish, but the more important articles are followed by a English summary. Each issue includes many illustrations, mainly photographs, in colour.

In recent years the society has been involved in the preparation of the official Danish Red List of Fungi, issued by the National Forest and Nature Agency. Along with this activity, the society is active in nature conservation, focusing on the threats against the funga.
In order to help the members in obtaining the necessary literature on fungi, the society started its own book-distribution and -publishing, called "Svampetryk", which sells books and other publications on fungi from all over the World to the members. "Svampetryk" publishes or co-publishes original papers too. Recently the book series "Fungi of Northern Europe" was started with plans to publish original and richly illustrated works on selected genera of fungi. The first volume treats the genus Hygrocybe. Further information on this book can be found on this homepage.