New Publications on Fungi of the Australasian Region

Seifert, Keith_ The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi_Media Release_Final.tiff

WILD MUSHROOMING

A Guide for Foragers

Alison Pouliot, Tom May

Find, identify, collect and prepare 10 edible fungus species using a 'slow mushrooming' approach.

Fungi are diverse, delicious and sometimes deadly. With interest in foraging for wild food on the rise, learning to accurately identify fungi reduces both poisoning risk to humans and harm to the environment. This extensively illustrated guide takes a 'slow mushrooming' approach – providing the information to correctly identify a few edible species thoroughly, rather than many superficially.

Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers melds scientific and cultural knowledge with stunning photography to present a new way of looking at fungi. It models 'ecological foraging' – an approach based on care, conservation and a deep understanding of ecosystem dynamics.

Sections on where, when and how to find fungi guide the forager in the identification of 10 edible species. Diagnostic information on toxic fungi and lookalike species helps to differentiate the desirable from the deadly. Wild Mushrooming then takes us into the kitchen with cooking techniques and 29 recipes from a variety of cuisines that can be adapted for both foraged and cultivated fungi.

Developing the skills to find fungi requires slowness, not speed. This guide provides the necessary information for the safe collection of fungi, and is essential reading for fungus enthusiasts, ecologists, conservationists, medical professionals and anyone interested in the natural world.

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Publication Date: March 2021

Further information and orders: https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7894/

The Allure of Fungi

The Allure of Fungi presents fungi through multiple perspectives – those of mycologists and ecologists, foragers and forayers, naturalists and farmers, aesthetes and artists, philosophers and Traditional Owners. It explores how a history of entrenched fears and misconceptions about fungi has led to their near absence in Australian ecological consciousness and biodiversity conservation.

Through a combination of text and visual essays, the author reflects on how aesthetic, sensate experience deepened by scientific knowledge offers the best chance for understanding fungi, the forest and human interactions with them.

Features:

An interdisciplinary exploration of fungi, their ecological significance and relationships with different cultures
Engaging personal anecdotes take readers on a journey of discovery into the world of fungi and fungus enthusiasts
Evocative text and stunning macrophotography are combined in an amalgam of history, science and art.

About the Author:

Dr Alison Pouliot is an environmental photographer and natural historian who is passionate about fungi. In this book she documents a forgotten corner of the natural world that is both beguiling and fundamental to life.

Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Publication Date: September 2018

Further information and orders: http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7790

Daniel McAlpine and The Bitter Pit

Springer has recently published an interesting new book by Douglas Parbery entitled “Daniel McAlpine and The Bitter Pit”. The book covers the life, education and career of the noted Australian Mycologist and Plant Pathologist, Daniel McAlpine. AMS members will be familiar with his name through the International Mycological Association (IMA) sponsored Daniel McAlpine medal which is awarded to an outstanding early career mycologist in the Australasian region every four years. The book is 52 pages and contains 39 illustrations (18 in colour). Further information can be found at: http://www.springer.com/philosophy/history+of+science/book/978-3-319-09551-6

FunKey: Key to Agarics

Identic and ABRS have recently published an interactive key to the genera of Australian agarics (gilled fungi). FunKey: Key to Agarics is the result of a collaboration between Tom May, Christopher Dunk and Simon Lewis (Royal

Botanic Gardens Melbourne) and Kevin Thiele (Western Australian Herbarium). FunKey: Key to Agarics is published on a USB key, and includes an interactive key (using the Lucid program) to more than 150 genera and selected species of Australian agarics, along with fact sheets on these taxa and the more than 120 macro- and microcharacters utilised by the key. FunKey: Key to Agarics also includes more than 1000 photographs and drawings, a comprehensive glossary and an extensive introduction to agaric classification and characters used in identification (with a section on microscopic techniques). FunKey can be purchased from Identic via the Lucid Shop :

(http://shop.lucidcentral.org/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=69)

or Fungimap:

(http://fungimap.org.au/index.php/bookshop/general-and-

reference-books/funkey-detail):

There is also an app version of FunKey (with just the key and fact sheets) available from itunes store <https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=958085767&mt=8> or Google play <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lucidcentral.mobile.funkey&hl=en>.