With its dense forests and plentiful rainfall, West Virginia and the rest of the Central Appalachian region is an almost perfect habitat for hundreds of varieties of wild mushrooms. For the mushroom hunter, this vast bounty provides sheer delight and considerable challenge, for every outdoor excursion offers the chance of finding a mushroom not previously encountered. For both the seasoned mycologist and the novice mushroom hunter, Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians serves as a solid introduction s of the region. Some 400 species are described and illustrated with the author's own stunning color photographs, and many more are discussed in the text. Detailed mushroom descriptions assure confident identifications. Each species account includes remarks about edibility and extensive commentary to help distinguish similar species. A comprehensive glossary of specialized mycological terms is provided.

This revised and expanded edition of mushroom expert Bill Russell’s popular Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic provides both novice and experienced mushroom foragers with detailed, easy-to-use information about more than one hundred species of these fungi, including twenty-five varieties not found in the previous guide. From the Morel to the Chanterelle to the aptly named Chicken of the Woods, mushrooms of the mid-Atlantic region can be harvested and enjoyed, if you know where to look. Each entry in this field guide contains a detailed description, current scientific classification, key updates and information from recent studies, and high-quality color photographs to aid in identification. Thoughtfully organized by season, the guide shows you how to locate and identify the most common mushrooms in the region and recognize look-alikes—and explains what to do with edible mushrooms once you’ve found them. Featuring over one hundred full-color illustrations and distilling Russell’s fifty years of experience in hunting, studying, and teaching about wild mushrooms, Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic is an indispensable reference for curious hikers, amateur biologists, adventurous chefs, and mycophiles of all stripes.

This completely revised second edition provides all the information necessary to identify mushrooms in the field in the midcontinental region of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin: the tallgrass prairies and the western parts of the eastern deciduous forests. The first edition has been improved in significant ways. The authors have updated scientific names, added photos where there were none and replaced poor photos with better ones, improved the keys, added some species and deleted others, added a section on truffles, and annotated the bibliography. There were originally 224 species; now there are 248. Some of the new photos—125 in all—serve as a second photo for a species, where it is helpful to show details that cannot be viewed in a single photo. The authors describe each species’ cap, gills, stalk, annulus, and season when it is most likely to be seen as well as such characteristics as edibility and toxicity. In their detailed and lively introduction they discuss the economic and environmental aspects of fungi, basic mushroom biology, nomenclature, edibility and toxicity, and habitats and time of fruiting. Most important are the keys, which lead the dedicated reader to the major groups of fungi included in this guide. The section on mushrooms includes keys to their genera in addition to the species within each family discussed, and each of the subsequent sections has a key to the genera and species except where so few species are discussed that a key is not necessary. The volume also includes a glossary and two bibliographies, one with general and one with technical references. Through their detailed technical descriptions and captivating color photos the authors convey their passionate fondness for these diverse and colorful organisms, whose mysterious appearances and disappearances have long made them objects of fascination.

This book is a comprehensive field guide to the mushrooms of the southeastern United States. Although it will stand on its own, it is intended to compliment and serve as a companion to Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, also published by Syracuse University Press. Together these volumes form a foundation and reference for identifying mushrooms found in eastern North America from Canada to the subtropics of Florida and Texas. This book features more than 450 species that are fully described and illustrated with photographs, many for the first time in color. The photographs were selected for high-quality color fidelity and documentary merit, and reflect some of the aesthetic appeal of our subject. The number of species described and illustrated in color is substantially more than has previously appeared in any other single work devoted to the mushrooms of the southeastern United States. Cross referencing to additional species occuring in the region that are illustrated in Mushrooms of Northeastern North America is provided. Although this book contains the necessary detail required by advanced students and professional mycologists, it emphasizes identification based primarily on macroscopic field characters for easier use by a general audience. Each illustrated species is accompanied by a detailed description of macroscopic and microscopic features based on the concepts of their original authors.

From one of the region’s foremost mushroom hunters—Walter E. Sturgeon—comes a long-overdue field guide to finding and identifying the mushrooms and fleshy fungi found in the Appalachian mountains from Canada to Georgia. Edibility and toxicity, habitat, ecology, and detailed diagnostic features of the disparate forms they take throughout their life cycles are all included, enabling the reader to identify species without the use of a microscope or chemicals. Appalachian Mushrooms is unparalleled in its accuracy and currency, from its detailed photographs to descriptions based on the most advanced classification information available, including recent DNA studies that have upended some mushrooms’ previously accepted taxonomies. Sturgeon celebrates more than 400 species in all their diversity, beauty, and scientific interest, going beyond the expected specimens to include uncommon ones and those that are indigenous to the Appalachian region. This guide is destined to be an indispensable authority on the subject for everyone from beginning hobbyists to trained experts, throughout Appalachia and beyond.

This beautifully illustrated guidebook provides specific, easy-to-understand information on finding, collecting, identifying, and preparing the safer and more common edible and medicinal mushroom species of New England and Eastern Canada. Author David Spahr, a trained commercial photographer, here combines his mycological expertise and photographic skill to produce an attractive and detailed overview of his subject. Based on decades of practical experience and research, the book is written in a clear and forthright style that avoids the dry, generic descriptions of most field guides. Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada also provides useful ideas for cooking mushrooms. Rather than simply providing recipes, the book discusses the cooking characteristics of each variety, with advice about matching species with appropriate foods. Many mushrooms contain unique medicinal components for boosting the immune system to fight cancer, HIV, and other diseases, and Spahr offers practical and prudent guidelines for exploration of this rapidly emerging area of alternative therapeutic practice.