Collins Fungi Guide: The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Ireland

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Nearly 2,400 species are illustrated in full colour, with detailed notes on how to correctly identify them, including details of similar, confusing species. Apply a streak across the cap of Agaricus species with a glass rod dipped in pure aniline and cross this with another rod dipped in concentrated nitric acid. A flame red colour at the point of intersection gives Schaeffer +; no red colour gives Schaeffer -. This test has been included in the Guide because it is useful for advanced study in the genus Agaricus, but concentrated nitric acid is an extremely dangerous chemical and the procedure should not be used by inexperienced collectors or those unfamiliar with the practices of laboratory chemistry. Two or three fruit bodies of each species should be adequate for identification, and perhaps five or six if the material is to be preserved as part of a permanent collection. It is unlikely that the time available to the average amateur collector will permit the examination and identification of more than about six or, at the most, ten unknown species from each collecting expedition. To take home more than this is wasteful therefore – especially as the main autumn collecting period lasts only a few weeks during which time perhaps ten trips may be made.

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Forget about the ‘little brown fungi’ for now. Try getting to know an accessible group such as the waxcaps or the boletes, or the puffballs and their ‘relatives’. It will teach you a lot about the differences between species and the places to look for them.Shape. Cap shape shows the greatest difference between mature and immature specimens and this difference should be noted. The description of cap shape used normally in species descriptions relates to the mature form and five main types are recognised: bell-shaped, conical, convex (or in its extreme form, domed) with the appearance of an upturned bowl, flat and, finally, uplifted, where the entire cap is depressed into a bowl-like form with uplifted margins. In describing shape, the presence and form of any central bump or depression should also be noted. A cap with some form of central bump is called umbonate or, if the bump is very small and pimple-like, papillate; one with a depression is called depressed although a very deep depression rendering the cap funnel-shaped is found quite commonly and is characteristic of some genera. A depression in the cap with a small bump or pimple in the centre is also fairly common and is called umbilicate.

Basic Guide to Identifying Fungi Basic Guide to Identifying Fungi

Identification: Has a blue to violet tinged cap and gills when young, however older caps turn tan or grey from the centre. Gills are crowded and grow into the stalk and fade to brown as the mushroom matures. The cap is roughly 5-15 cm across, and the stem 5-10 cm tall. Other stem features have manifestations on the stem and, to some extent, on the cap too; these are the presence or absence of veils – more or less filmy sheets of tissue produced on the fruit bodies of some agaric species. They are of two types, partial veils and universal veils. A partial veil covers the gills of an agaric fruit body as it emerges from the substrate, stretching from the cap edge to the stem. As the cap grows and expands, this veil tears in one of two main ways. An arachnoid (spider or cobweb-like) veil splits radially leaving fibrils on the cap edge and sometimes adhering across the gills too. By contrast, a membranous veil tears concentrically around the cap, sometimes leaving flaps of tissue conspicuously on the cap edge and more importantly a ring of tissue (called the ring) on the stem itself. In many fungi the ring is barely detectable but in others it forms a very obvious feature, important in identification. The ring may take several forms; if it joins only loosely to the stem, it is called movable, if more tightly adhering, attached. If it is on the upper part of the stem, a ring is called superior; if on the lower half, inferior; a ring with a cotton wool-like roll of tissue on the underside is referred to as double. Sometimes there is no proper ring, only a ring-zone or slightly rougher tissue and contrasting colour on the stem.

Always remember that it is far better to identify with certainty ten species and so enrich your fund of knowledge and experience than return home wastefully with fifty or more unknowns, most of which there will never be any prospect of naming. Collins Bird Guide provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, with detailed text on size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Collins Fungi Guide: The Most Complete Field Guide to the Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain & Ireland Fungi are able to exploit most of the natural – and many of the artificial – raw materials of the world as nutrient sources; and to tolerate most of the environmental variables the earth can offer. Of all the natural habitats able to support life of any type, almost all are inhabited by some species of fungi. But whilst many genera of larger fungi certainly occur predominantly in one type of habitat, there are few that are wholly characteristic of individual types of woodland, grassland or other community. Nonetheless, there are certainly some fungal genera, and, more significantly, some associations of genera, that do give each habitat a characteristic mycobiota. Amanita, Lactarius and Russula for instance, which are mycorrhizal associates of trees, are predominantly woodland genera, while Hygrocybe is usually found in grassland. And a species list including Mycena capillaris, Russula fellea, Craterellus cornucopioides and Boletus satanas conjures up an image of a beech wood to a mycologist in much the same way as a list including bramble, dog’s mercury, foxglove, holly and violet helleborine might to a botanist. Woodlands

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The list of those species that are classed as magic mushrooms is only provisional and there is uncertainty about the validity of some of the chemistry on which it is based. Nonetheless, it does have legal standing. The relevant species are indicated in the text of this Guide. Equipment For collecting Former Head of Mycology and Plant Pathology and sometime Acting Regius Keeper at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh] Apply a few drops of a fresh aqueous solution of 10 per cent (weight: volume) ferric chloride or ferric sulphate to the stem and observe any colour change. If it is possible to obtain a large crystal of ferric sulphate, this can be rubbed directly on the stem and so used for rapid identification of certain species of Russula in the field. It can be kept fresh when not in use by placing it in a corked tube containing a wad of cotton wool moistened with dilute ammonium sulphate.Authoritative text, beautiful photographs and detailed illustrations show the distinguishing features of each mushroom and toadstool, including details of size, habitat and when it can be found, whether it is edible or poisonous and most importantly, which similar species it can be confused with and why. More kinds of macro-fungi are to be found in woodlands than anywhere else and every organised fungal foray will include a visit to at least one. Woodlands offer a rich and continuing nutrient source and a wide range of microhabitats (from the twigs and leaves of tree tops to roots many centimetres below the soil surface), a soil environment reasonably well buffered against extremes of temperature and a fairly moist environment all year. They are conveniently divided into the major categories of coniferous, broadleaved and mixed, with additional habitats provided by the woodland edges and by open, grassy areas or glades within the wood itself. Do not collect ‘buttons’ (mushrooms that have not expanded). Giving buttons time to expand will allow spores to be discharged and will give you a bigger mushroom to eat. Fungi are enjoyed by many people because of their beauty and intrigue. For this reason you should take care to minimise the visual effect of collecting samples.