TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue: The Hunt

MUSHROOM AND OTHER FUNGI

1. Mushrooms in Our Midst

2. The Life History of the Mushroom

3. Umbrellas and Other Variations

COLLECTING, IN SOLITUDE AND IN GROUPS

4. A Foray in the Woods

5. A Walk on the Lawn

6. Mushroomers United

CULINARY TALES

7. A Matter of Taste

8. White Buttons, Shiitake, and Other Tame Species

9. Truffles, Stinkhorns, and Corn Smut

KINGDOM OF VERSATILE PARTS

10. Mushrooms, the Mind, and the Body

11. Murder and More Mushroom Mayhem

12. The Train Wrecker and Other Sturdy Mushrooms

13. Insects as Fungus Gardeners

Epilogue: The Biologist as Mushroom Hunter

Resources

Credits

Index


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The woodcuts of fungi are from Theatrum Fungorum oft Het Tooneel der Campernoelien by Franciscus von Sterbeeck (Antwerp: Joseph Jacobs, 1675). Permission has been granted by the Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts for their use.

Copyright © 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.


CAUTION: This book (and this online feature) is not intended as a recipe book or an identification guide. There are risks involved in consuming wild mushrooms. To minimize them you must obtain positive identification of each specimen. Even with proper identification, the possibility exists that the consumer may be allergic to a mushroom, or that the mushroom may in some way be anomalous. The author has been conscientious in his efforts to alert the reader to potential hazards of consuming wild mushrooms, but the reader must accept full responsibility for deciding to consume any particular specimen. Descriptions of medicinal uses of mushrooms given in this book (and on this online feature) are for educational purposes only. The author is not recommending the use of mushrooms for self-medication. Always consults a physician about such use.