Identifying Fungi

The mainstay for accurately identifying mushrooms is a good field guide. A field guide should preferably be able to fit in a pocket of your jacket and the first suggestion is 4″x7.7″. The author of this popular guide, Gary H. Lincoff, has authored, co-authored, or edited several books and articles on mushrooms. He teaches courses on mushroom and plant identification and use at the New York Botanical Garden and has led wild mushroom and edible wild plant study trips and forays to 30 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South, Central, and North America. Lincoff chaired the Telluride Mushroom Festival for 25 years (1980–2004), and still participates as its principal speaker. He is also a featured “myco visionary” in the award-winning documentary, Know Your Mushrooms, by Ron Mann. Lincoff also founded and led the New York City Edible Wild Plant Workshop, which featured a once-a-week wild edibles dinner plus a weekend hunt for edible wild plants and mushrooms in city parks. Patricia Wells published his edible wild plant recipes in an article in the New York Times, and he has been profiled in the Village Voice and New York magazine. He lives in New York City. I can recommend his website: http://www.garylincoff.com

The guide references more than 700 mushrooms, together with with 762 full-color identification photographs.  You will find all the mushrooms grouped by color and shape to make identification simple and accurate in the field, while the text account for each species includes a detailed physical description, information on edibility, season, habitat, range, look-alikes, alternative names, and facts on edible and poisonous species, uses, and folklore. Also included is a supplementary section on cooking and eating wild mushrooms.

Another excellent book from the same author is “The Complete Mushroom Hunter: An Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms”

Visit our bookshop for more guides to identifying mushrooms and foraging.