The Origins of the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi

The Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi is the largest macrofungal collection of mushrooms found along the Southern Rocky Mountains. How did this collection rise to fame? What are its origins?

Let us begin with the collection’s namesake, Dr. Duane ‘Sammy’ Herbert Mitchel (1917-1993). He earned his M.D. from Harvard in 1943 and briefly served in World War II as a medic. In 1949, he relocated to Denver and was a medical practitioner for over 40 years. Naturally drawn to nature, his mycological interest sparked in 1960 when his sons discovered mushrooms on their ranch in Edwards, Colorado. Unable to identify them, he sought assistance from local universities and state extension services and found minimal mycological expertise in Colorado. Demonstrating his characteristic independence and curiosity, Mitchel decided to undertake his own scientific study of Colorado mushrooms.

By 1963, Sam created a community of amateur mycologists, and they were given lab space at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). A year of accumulating and studying specimens pushed Mitchel and his fellow mycologists to their mycological knowledge limits. Determined to expand their expertise, Mitchel, inspired by fellow mycologist Mary Wells, attended the University of Michigan’s Biological Field Station in 1965. 

By 1967, the mycologists were beginning to run out of space at DMNS. That year, Denver Botanic Gardens board member Dr. James J. Waring invited the group to move their specimens to the Gardens. The collection was housed together with the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium of Vascular Plants, an integration that remains today. If you walk through the atrium of the Freyer – Newman Center, peek into the natural history collections. There you will see the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi next to the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium of Vascular Plants housed together.

Over the last 45 years, the fungal collections at the Gardens have grown by 300-500 specimens annually. Today, it holds over 25,000 specimens, each contributing to research on fungal diversity and evolutionary relationships. The collection was dedicated to Mitchel as the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi in 2009 and has remained a vital resource for understanding the role of fungi in the ecosystems of the Southern Rocky Mountain region. 

Want to learn more? Join a tour of the collections at Denver Botanic Gardens.
 

This article was contributed by Collection's Assistant Matthew Sheik.