A field guide to mushrooms, North America

Title:

Author:

McKnight, Kent H.

ISBN:

9780395421017

9780395421024

9780395910900

Publication Information:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1987.

Physical Description:

xii, 429 pages, 48 [i.e. 96] pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 19 cm.

Series:

Peterson field guide series ; 34.

General Note:

"Sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation."

Contents:

Editor's note -- Preface -- 1. How to use this book -- 2. Mushrooms are fungi -- 3. Mushroom poisoning -- pt. 1. Non-gilled mushrooms -- 4. Sac fungi : Ascomycetes -- Miscellaneous sac and cup fungi -- Sponge mushrooms (Morels) -- False morels and lorchels -- Cup fungi -- 5. Club fungi : Basidiomycetes -- Jelly fungi -- Rust and smut fungi -- Coral fungi -- Groundwarts and woodcrusts -- Chanterelles -- Tooth fungi (Hydnums) -- Fleshy pore fungi (Boletes) -- Pore fungi (Polypores) -- pt. 2. Gilled mushrooms -- 6. More club fungi : Basidiomycetes, continued -- Gill fungi (Agarics) -- Tricholomas and others -- Waxycaps -- Slime mushrooms, deathcaps, and others (amanitas and relatives) -- Parasol mushrooms (Lepiotas and others) -- Roof mushrooms and sheath mushrooms -- Common meadow mushrooms (Agaricus) -- Ringstalks, scalecaps, and smoothcaps -- Inky caps, crumblecaps, and mottlegills -- Webcaps (Cortinarius) and others -- Pinkgills (Entoloma) -- Brittlegills (Russula) -- Milkcaps (Lactarius).

pt. 3. Puffballs and relatives -- 7. Gastromycetes -- Stinkhorns and false truffles -- Puffballs and earthstars -- Palate pointers (recipes) -- Glossary -- Selected references -- Index.

Abstract:

Identifies over one thousand species with detailed descriptions and illustrations.

Subject Term:

Mushrooms -- North America -- Identification.

Mushrooms -- North America -- Pictorial works.

Basidiomycota.

Basidiomycota

Mushrooms

Mushrooms -- Identification

Geographic Term:

Genre:

Added Author:

Added Corporate Author:

National Audubon Society.

National Wildlife Federation.

Available:

Library	Call Number	Material Type	Status
Searching... State Library of Oregon	589.2097 McKni	4-Week Loan	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary:

Identifies over one thousand species with detailed descriptions and illustrations.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Long a passionate pastime in Europe, mushroom hunting is catching on in North America among the ecologically conscious. The latest Peterson Field Guide, 15 years in the making, comes adorned in the series' usual authoritative splendor to minister to this new American mania. More than 500 species are described and depicted. The descriptions are distributed into three sections on nongilled, gilled, and gastromycete (puffballs, stinkhorns, etc.) species, respectively. Edibility of each species is noted and signified by marginal pictograms both in the text and on the colorplates. Use instructions are exhaustive; the overview, ``Mushrooms Are Fungi,'' is illuminating; and Karl B. [xb]McKnight's[ab] remarks on toxicity are grimly necessary. Appended: a genial chapter of recipes by Anne Dow, glossary, selected references, and index. RO. 589.2'097 Mushrooms North America Identification / Mushrooms North America Pictorial works [CIP] 86-27799

Choice Review

It has been several years since a new mushroom field guide has been published for North America. The addition to the Peterson series of the McKnight book provides another entrance into the complex but popular study of fungi. Two other books, O.K. Miller's Mushrooms of North America (CH, Apr '73) and G.H. Lincoff's Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms (1981), basically cover the same ground. The Peterson guide, unlike the other books, uses watercolor paintings rather than photographs to illustrate the species. The watercolors are of high quality and, although somewhat stylized, are diagnostic. The illustrations are the primary devices for identification since there are no keys or charts. One way is to match and compare the illustrations with the living collection and then to compare specimens with descriptions and notes. This method, particularly when dealing with the large number of similar-looking mushrooms, is difficult and the authors are correct in noting that the experimenter is well advised to get identifications checked by experts before eating a species (the selection of recipes included may provide too much temptation for the less prudent gatherer). Another point bound to generate controversy will be the use of common names. Here, if they do not exist common names are invented-sometimes by translation of the Latin binomial, sometimes by adapting a European common name. The names that result are often cumbersome, sometimes humorous, and often unique to this book. Amateur mycologists might find it high time to standardize common names if this trend away from scientific names continues. This being said, this guide is well produced and accurate. For the beginner, it provides a way of learning some mushrooms; for the advanced user it provides detailed descriptions and notes based on the authors' personal experience.-D.H. Pfister, Harvard University