Join our statewide effort to build an understanding of Vermont's fungal biodiversity. Request a free sampling kit and contribute directly to open scientific discovery.
Request a free sampling kit and contribute directly to open scientific discovery. Anyone can participate. You simply forage and collect the physical samples from your local woods, backyards, and trails. We'll accept any fungus from Vermont!
The Vermont state fungi is the bear’s head tooth mushroom (Hericium americanum), which was officially designated in May 2024. Students from Windham Elementary and Compass Middle School led the effort to select this mushroom, citing its unique appearance, edibility, potential medicinal properties, and its ability to be found and cultivated in the state’s forests. Photo by iNaturalist Grace Bartel.
Organized by Middlebury College, Vermont Mycological Society and the Vermont Atlas of Life as part of a the MycoMap national effort to sequence every fungus in the United States.
Why sequence every Fungus?
Fungi are essential to our ecosystems, yet largely undocumented at a genetic level. We’re decentralizing science to build an open-source database of fungal life. MycoMap is a collaborative fungal biodiversity network dedicated to documenting, sequencing, and understanding fungal life at scale. It brings together community scientists, researchers, and institutions to build one of the most comprehensive, specimen-anchored fungal datasets in North America. Through standardized field methods, DNA barcoding, and open data integration, MycoMap connects physical specimens to genetic data, images, and ecological context—creating durable records that support research, conservation, education, and future applications.
