My family and I got into mycology this summer. We started hiking in Gatineau Park and started noticing and photographing mushrooms. Then we would go home and try to identify them. The more we started to learn about the fungi world the more fascinated we became. What amazed us was that there are also edible mushrooms that can be harvested. (I am not recommending that you do this as you really have to know your poisonous ones as well or there can be dire consequences.) What we really needed was a good reference guide to bring with us to be able to identify mushrooms in the field. I also wanted a good reference guide that was specific for my region, Eastern Canada. I stumbled upon the book entitled Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada by Timothy J. Baroni. It is an indispensable book!
This book is a must-have for mushroom hunters in the northeast!
About the Book:
The Northeast is one of the best places to find mushrooms; they are both abundant and spectacularly diverse. Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada is a compact, beautifully illustrated guide packed with descriptions and photographs of more than 400 of the region’s most conspicuous, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms. The geographic range covered by the book includes Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, and most of Quebec. In addition to profiles on individual species, Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada also includes a general discussion and definition of fungi; information on where to find mushrooms and guidelines on collecting them; an overview of fungus ecology; and a discussion on mushroom poisoning and how to avoid it.
I have used the book in the filed while hiking. It is clear and easy to use. It has helped us to identify a dozen r so species of mushrooms and fungi. I personally love Polypores!
Each section in the book is well thought out and organized. This handy reference guide has high quality pictures, succinct descriptive text for each mushroom, and a rugged binding that will stand the test of time in the field. Dr. Baroni has updated the latest taxonomy, has provided author citations & synonyms, and has laid out related species by morphology and spore print color.
The Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada is going to rapidly become the most well-used guide in your mushroom library, whether your a beginner, amateur or even if you consider yourself an expert!
About the Author:
Timothy J. Baroni is a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the State University of New York. He teaches at SUNY–College at Cortland and works on biodiversity research of macrofungi globally with emphasis on mushrooms and other fungi found in the Americas. He is the author or co-author of three books and many peer-reviewed articles on taxonomy of macrofungi. Baroni has described 95 new species and varieties of macrofungi, served as president of the Mycological Society of America, and received numerous awards from the State University of New York for teaching and research. He was recently selected for the Distinguished Mycologist Award given by the Mycological Society of America.
Always great to go out and be able to become more familiar with the flora and fauna! Love all the details in the book. I don’t know much about mycology but it must be so much fun to learn more about the interesting mushrooms and fungi around here!