Chapter I: Preface

This is one of a series of books intended to introduce field-biology to students, particularly the sixth form and early university student. The present work is ecologically biased in order to emphasise a rather neglected aspect of the higher fungi.

Few books on fungi have ever been designed for students. This book is aimed primarily at this level, but if the interested amateur is assisted and encouraged by this same text my hopes will have been doubly achieved. Many amateurs interested in higher fungi wish only to name their collections, or know approximately what they are before sampling them as an addition to their diet. An understanding of our commoner species at an early age will allow the ‘budding’ mycologist to tackle the much needed study of the more critical forms. Mycology is still at a descriptive stage, but it is hoped this will soon be changed and fungi of all kinds will be studied as part and parcel of courses in ecology.

It is of course quite impossible to cover all the species in such a small volume as this present one, but it is hoped that the examples which have been carefully chosen are sufficiently common throughout the country for any student to collect them in a single season. The examples, except for very few, in fact appear in the list of higher fungi found about the Kindrogan Field Centre, Perthshire, Scotland, compiled from the collections made by students attending my field course there.

The present work is arranged in three parts: the agarics are dealt with first, the non-agarics next, both with particular reference to their major habitat preferences, and lastly a catalogue of those more specialised habitats which are frequently encountered. All parts are supported at the end by lists in tabular form of those species expected to be found in any one habitat. Keys to the major groups, families and genera, are included to widen the scope of the book and place the examples chosen and illustrated in the text in their position in classification.

In the description the synonymy has been very severely pruned and only covers the commonly seen names; they are included as part of the general information under each species. In order for the student to expand unfamiliar names a list of references is added at the end of the work. The common names of the fungi, whenever possible, have been adopted from a list produced by Dr Large, the author of _The Advance of the Fungi_, an exciting tale of fungal parasites. The authorities for the names of the fungi described have been reduced to accord with the minimum requirements set out by the Code of Botanical Nomenclature. After each description a list of references to coloured plates is given and while some of these illustrations are not of the highest quality they are adequate, and, more important, they are widely available. Any technical terms appearing in the description are explained in the glossary, although they have been kept to a minimum; the difficulty of expressing colours has been overcome by consistently referring to one colour chart only, (a chart designed originally for the use of mycologists and available from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office).

I have not indicated the edibility of a particular species unless there is no doubt as to the edibility of it, related species and those species with which it might be easily confused. Many fungi are notoriously difficult to identify and when one has approximately 3,000 species of larger fungi in the country the task is even more difficult. It would be folly therefore to indicate edibility for all the fungi described in a book such as this; the golden rule which should be adopted is not to eat any of the fungi one collects in the woods and fields. A fault of most popular treatments is that they are biased towards the human diet and selection of species is done on this basis; in the present work selection of examples within the 270 pages has been difficult and two factors have been particularly considered to ensure that (i) representatives of all the major groups of fungi and genera have been covered and (ii) a coverage has been attempted of all the common ecological niches.

I am fully aware that the taste of a fungus may be distinctive to that species or to a group of closely related species, but it is only a spot character and the tasting of one’s finds is neither necessary nor advisable; indeed it is not used in this book. The odour, however, has been indicated whenever distinctive.

CONTENTS

_Page_
Preface 5
Introduction 9
Where to look 9
Collecting 10
Examination 11
Microscopic examination 12
Key to major groups of Larger Fungi 21
A. Agarics and their relatives 22
Key to major genera 22
(i) Agarics of woodlands and copses 27
(a) Mycorrhizal formers 27
(b) Parasites 59
(c) Saprophytes--Wood-inhabiting or lignicolous agarics 64
(d) Saprophytes--Terrestrial agarics 78
(ii) Agarics of pastures and meadows 95
(a) Agarics of rough & hill-pastures 95
(b) Agarics of chalk-grassland & rich uplands 108
(c) Agarics of meadows and valley-bottom grasslands 114
(d) Fairy-ring formers 118
(e) Agarics of urban areas--lawn and parkland agarics 122
(f) Agarics of wasteland and hedgerows 126
B. Bracket fungi and their relatives 135
Key to major genera 135
(i) Pored and toothed fungi 140
(a) Colonisers of tree trunks, stumps and branches 140
(b) Destroyers of timber in buildings 154
(c) Colonisers of cones 158
(d) Terrestrial forms 160
(ii) Cantharelles and related fungi 162
(iii) Fairy-club fungi 166
(iv) Resupinate fungi 176
C. The Jelly fungi--Key to major groups with examples 179
D. The Stomach fungi; puff-balls and their relatives--Key to
major groups with examples 186
E. Cup fungi and allies 198
F. Specialised Habitats 207
(i) Fungi of dung and straw heaps 207
(ii) Fungi of bonfire sites 216
(iii) Fungi of bogs and marshes 222
(a) _Sphagnum_ bogs 222
(b) Alder-carrs 226
(iv) Fungi of beds of herbaceous plants 227
(v) Fungi of moss-cushions 230
(vi) Heath and mountain fungi 231
(a) Moorland fungi 231
(b) Mountain fungi & Basidiolichens 236
(vii) Sand-dune fungi 238
(viii) Subterranean fungi 243
(ix) Fungal parasites 246
G. Appendix 249
(i) Species lists of specialised habitats 249
(ii) Glossary 260
(iii) Simple experiments with Fairy-rings 264
(iv) Development of the Agaric fruit-body 266
(v) References 269
H. Index 271

_Cover transparency supplied by John Markham, F. R. P. S., F. Z. S._