Fungi id book recomendations please

[Keith Talbot]

Can anyone recomend a good british Fungi id book please?

Ive got a small pocket guide but it also covers europe and the pics are not very good.

Thanks very much.

[thelawnet]

There are three basic general guides:

Mushrooms - Roger Phillips
The Encyclopedia of Fungi of Britain and Europe - Michael Jordan
Collins Complete British Mushrooms and Toadstools - Barry Hughes

You would perhaps do well to buy all three, each has its place. The Collins book is smallest and actually covers most species (which is very handy), but it generally doesn't have gill shots as the larger books do, so it is typically harder to do picture identification using this one. It also does not cover edibles, generally speaking.

The Phillips book IMO has the clearest pictures as they show the fungus and its characteristics 'in the lab', rather than the in situ photos used in the other books - pretty, but not especially useful (the text will say something like 'mixed woodlands' in any case).

The Jordan book is pretty similar, though slightly smaller, it is still not terribly portable for field use - something the Collins excels at, though I personally struggle with the small pictures in Collins and find it quicker just to carry a larger book. The Jordan book is the only one with a key, very helpful if you've no idea what genus your specimen is in.

Best to buy all three.....

[Keith Talbot]

Thanks for that,i was looking at the collins one the other day in the book shop,i might start with that then move on to the others,

Thanks

[fairplay]

Excellent choice Keith.

Neil.

[thelawnet]

Originally Posted by thelawnet

The Jordan book is pretty similar, though slightly smaller, it is still not terribly portable for field use - something the Collins excels at, though I personally struggle with the small pictures in Collins and find it quicker just to carry a larger book. The Jordan book is the only one with a key, very helpful if you've no idea what genus your specimen is in.

Oops, I have that the wrong way round, the Jordan book is the largest, but the Phillips one is not greatly smaller.

[Davy Crockett]

Originally Posted by Keith Talbot

Can anyone recomend a good british Fungi id book please?

Ive got a small pocket guide but it also covers europe and the pics are not very good.

Thanks very much.

Keith i know this post is 2008 but i'm now asking the same question, if you don't mind, what did you settle with in the end, and did you make the right choice. Cheers David

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Davy Crockett

Keith i know this post is 2008 but i'm now asking the same question, if you don't mind, what did you settle with in the end, and did you make the right choice. Cheers David

I have an excellent recommendation its Mushrooms of Britain and Europe (Black's Nature Guides) by WABs very own Andreas..

[Lancashire Lad]

All of the above are excellent recommendations, but for a pocketable field guide to British mushrooms/fungi, the Collins Complete Guide To British Mushrooms and Toadstools - by Paul Sterry & Barry Hughes, is probably the best that's currently available. - Its only downside being that it doesn't show images of the undersides of the fruitbodies.

One to look out for, (although probably too hefty to be pocktable), will be the new Collins Fungi Guide "The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain & Europe" - by Stefan Buczacki and Christopher Shields.
Latest info suggests pubication date of March 2012 (Unless it is delayed yet again).
But, if it is anything like the rest of the "Collins Guide" series, it should be worth waiting for.

Then there's the now out of print Collins Field Guide - Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain & Europe, - by Regis Courtecuisse and Bernard Duhem. One of the classic (and pocketable) field guides - but with excellent watercolour illustrations rather than photographs. Well worth looking out for in the second hand market.

Regards,
Mike.

[stickman]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

Its only downside being that it doesn't show images of the undersides of the fruitbodies.

And it's only got about 6 Entoloma species in it

Nick.

[fairplay]

And eef you is good at speaking zee French, then the book 'Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North - western Europe' by Marcel Bon should be searched for.

A few years ago, we were promised an updated version in English, but I'm told it was only available in French.

Neil.