beginner needs help [Archive]

jose

Sunday 12th October 2003, 19:12

I have been finding a great variety of fungi and I am getting very curious. Can someone help me?
what guide should i get? where can i get more information? is there anything i should be careful about when studying these fungi? no, i do not intend to eat them.

Best regards
Jose

cjay

Sunday 12th October 2003, 19:30

By far the best ids the Roger Philips guide called Mushrooms by Pan Books

The Mycologists photographic guide,

CJ

jose

Sunday 12th October 2003, 19:41

many thanks colin

rog8811

Wednesday 15th October 2003, 22:04

I agree, Roger Phillips is the very best, but it is not field friendly
(unless you have poachers pockets!) I find that collins gem Mushroom and Toadstools is a good pocket book to carry around, it is not comprehensive but will help ident up to 250 species.

Regards rog8811

jose

Thursday 16th October 2003, 20:55

i am going to get the smaller version of these guides. i think i will try to learn the basics first and then move on from there.
thank you for your help
:t:

Leif

Saturday 1st November 2003, 17:11

i am going to get the smaller version of these guides. i think i will try to learn the basics first and then move on from there.
thank you for your help
:t:

I agree that Phillips is the best general guide. Mushrooms and other fungi by Geoffrey Kibby is also excellent. There is a pocket version available. It has less species than Phillips.

BTW You might find that you get home with a pile of battered fungi and cannot decide which species is which. Many fungi are associated with specific trees, or substrates. So it can help if at the time of collection you put a couple of fruiting bodies in a sealed plastic container with a note indicating nearby trees and any other useful information. I use old Ras Malai containers. (An Indian sweet!) Another advantage of using a container is that specimens are protected from damage in transit. Several species can go in one container as long as they are quite distinct and the note make it clear which is which.

Useful information to note at the time of collection includes smell, flesh colour, flesh colour changes, whether or not the cap skin (cuticle) peels and so on. Don't worry if you cannot identify many.