"Mushrooms and Fall Plants" Fair

During the^46th edition of the Fall Mushrooms and Plants Fair, there will be several exhibits, workshops, and tours on mycology, botany, entomology, geology, and pharmacy.

The mushrooms and plants were collected by members of the Hérault Society of Horticulture and History (SHHNH) and the Montpellier School of Pharmacy (Laboratory of Botany, Phytochemistry, and Mycology).

Fresh Fall Mushrooms

• An exhibition featuring more than 200 fresh mushrooms.
• A workshop to identify specimens brought in by the public.
  Members of the SHHNH and university faculty will identify the mushrooms collected or brought in by the public over the course of the two days.
• A workshop on the similarities between edible and poisonous—or even deadly—mushroom species in our region: the slide show “The Main Edible Mushrooms and Their Poisonous or Deadly Look-Alikes,” created by several members of the SHHNH, will be presented to the public.
• Educational tools to help the general public and students (pharmacy, medicine, science, liberal arts, humanities, and social sciences) identify mushrooms: three sets of cards and a “Mushrooms” quiz, created by members of the SHHNH, will allow the general public and students to test their knowledge of mushroom foraging, preservation, ecology, identification, as well as their edibility and/or toxicity.

Fall Fruits and Flowers

• An exhibition featuring more than 200 recently collected wild plants from the region.
• A workshop to identify plants brought in by the public.
  SHHNH botanists will answer your questions about the flora of our region. 

Insects

• Entomologists will display cases showcasing the diversity of insects in the region. Insects: Champions of Biodiversity. Nearly 43,000 different species in metropolitan France.
• An interactive card game, created by a member of the SHHNH, will help you learn about this diversity.

Rocks

• An exhibit featuring rock samples tells the story of changes in the Mediterranean Sea’s sea level over the past 15 million years by examining the evolution of the coastline.
• Current studies predict that this change will occur in the near future.

guided tours

Free guided tours of the Albert CIURANA Pharmacy Museum are offered on Saturday afternoons, Sunday mornings, and Sunday afternoons.

conferences

Two lectures will be held in Lecture Hall A of the Montpellier School of Pharmacy:

• Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.: “Protecting Mediterranean Flora in a Changing World” by John THOMPSON (Retired Research Director, CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier; Chair of the Scientific Council of the Mercantour National Park; Chair of the Scientific Council of the Narbonnaise en Méditerranée Regional Nature Park)

The Mediterranean region is unique in terms of the diversity and distinctiveness of its wildflowers. However, in the context of climate change, the conservation of this heritage must be guided by two complementary approaches. First, we must study extreme weather events and their current impacts on the flora. Second, we must prioritize the conservation of species at the northern limit of their range in the French Mediterranean region, where they are rare and vulnerable. These are species with an “Ibero-Provençal” distribution, whose ecological and genetic uniqueness suggests they will be of future interest. Thus, it is essential to preserve this heritage from the past, monitor the current impacts of climate change, and anticipate the future.

• Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.: “A Legal Mushroom Hunt…” by Pierre MOUSSERON (Professor at the Montpellier School of Law, President of the Institut des usages, Montpellier)

Mushrooms have a right.
This is dictated by the law, which increasingly views them negatively as goods, fruits, products, ingredients, or pests.
Fortunately, this right is accompanied by customs that are more considerate of nature, whether it involves picking or gathering these autumn flowers.