A survey of all the mushrooms that appear within the confines of New York City began years ago as so many casual observations. With the 2006 Central Park All-Taxa Bio-Blitz several members of the New York Mycological Society attempted to identify all the mushrooms that appeared in Central Park over the next few years. With the continual rains in the fall of 2010 it was decided to extend this systematic survey to the entire city. All 5 boroughs of New York City have been visited a number of times with this purpose in mind, and this survey will continue at least until 2016 – a decade of systematically surveying the mushrooms of New York City.. The primary areas canvassed include: the Bronx (Van Cortlandt Park, the New York Botanical Garden, Pelham Bay Park, and Woodlawn Cemetery), Manhattan (Central Park, Inwood Hill Park, and Riverside Park), Brooklyn (Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery), Queens (Forest Park, Alley Pond Park, and Cunningham Park), and Staten Island (Clove Lakes Park, Wolfe’s Pond Park, and the Staten Island Greenbelt). Based on the data so far it is possible that as many as 1000 different mushrooms occur within the 5 boroughs of New York City……To date (mid-2016) – we have recorded nearly 1000 species of mushrooms in New York City parks.
