With information on the characteristics, distinguishing features, and occasionally bizarre habits of these fungi, readers will find in this book the common and the conspicuous, the unfamiliar and the odd.
Location maps give at-a-glance indications of each species’ known global distribution, and specially commissioned engravings show different fruitbody forms and provide the vital statistics of height and diameter.
Each species here is reproduced at its actual size, in full color, and is accompanied by a scientific explanation of its distribution, habitat, association, abundance, growth form, spore color, and edibility. In this lavishly illustrated volume, six hundred fungi from around the globe get their full due. Some fungi are parasites or saprotrophs many are poisonous and, yes, hallucinogenic others possess life-enhancing properties that can be tapped for pharmaceutical products while a delicious few are prized by epicureans and gourmands worldwide. They not only partner in symbiotic relationships with over ninety percent of the world’s trees and flowering plant species, they also recycle and create humus, the fertile soil from which such flora receive their nutrition. And these highly specialized organisms are an indispensable part of the great chain of life. Today there are few, if any, places on Earth where fungi have not found themselves a home. Colorful, mysterious, and often fantastically shaped, fungi have been a source of wonder and fascination since the earliest hunter-gatherers first foraged for them.
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