Mushrooms

Peter Marren takes his reader on an exhilarating ride through the fungal world, beginning with an outline of his own journey of discovery.  With the eye of a naturalist and the background of an ecologist he uses specific examples, most of them British and recent, to illustrate the underlying biology. Here the term ‘mushroom’ covers not just the 40-odd species of the genus Agaricus but any fungus that produces a fruiting body clearly visible to the unaided eye – at least 2,500 in Britain. In commendably few pages, the author describes fungi in a diverse range of habitats (including gardens), using both widespread and rare species to make his ecological points.

But this book is not only about fungi, it is about the people who study them and enjoy them in other ways: there is information on how they have been named, a brief history of field guides, and on the pleasures, and otherwise, of eating them.  Even the chapter on conservation is as much about people as the fungi, as it should be. The photographs are a joy in themselves, carefully selected and stunningly presented. There are hints that this will be the first of a series – Collections of British Wildlife. If future volumes are even close to the standard of the first they will surely out-compete the much-loved New Naturalist series.  The beautiful jacket artwork (by Carry Ackroyd) validates the comparison. This book will not help the naturalist identify fungi but it will make them want to.

Book reviewed by Tony Leech