Mushrooms and Toadstools

Back in 1996-1997 I used to work for a software company called Harlequin, in a nice big house in Barrington situated in some very nice grounds. I noticed in autumn that there were a lot of interesting looking mushrooms around, and this is how my interest in fungi began.

Since then I've positively identified about 35 species of mushroom with the help of five books on identifying mushrooms that I cross-check against, and I've eaten six different types that I've collected myself, some on many occasions. But this year I thought it might be amusing to keep a mycological diary, mainly to remind me next year where and when to find the tasty ones.

A note of caution - I spend a lot of time making sure I've got the right mushroom, and that it isn't one of the poisonous ones. Although there are only a few truly fatal mushrooms in the United Kingdom, there are plenty that can make you feel very ill for a long time. So don't take this as a guide - if you get interested, go out, buy a book, or join a club.

The books I use are:

• Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe by Roger Phillips. This book is incredibly comprehensive, and contains superb pictures of all known fungi in Britain. Usually the pictures include the young fruit bodies right across to aging specimins, so you should be able to identify the fungus no matter how old it is. The only problem is that because the book contains about 900 entries sorted by species, it can be difficult to find the fungus you have found. That is where the next book comes in handy:
• Collins: How to identify edible mushrooms by Patrick Harding, Tony Lyon and Gill Tomblin. This book probably contains less than a hundred entries, but they are sorted into two main sectons - mushrooms found in fields, and mushrooms found in forests. These are then subdivided into chapters, each of which lists an edible mushroom, and the species it could be confused with. The species are also sorted in order of their frequency. I tend to use this book as a starter to find a likely candidate for my mushroom, and then refer to Phillips. The disadvantage of this Collins book is that it has drawings instead of photographs.
• The Hamlyn book of mushrooms and fungi by Mirko Svrcek. Once I think I've indentified a mushroom I sometimes refer to this book, as it has more details on edibility and tells you some more chatty facts about the mushrooms. Again, it contains no pictures, only drawings, which makes it less useful.
• Collins: Mushrooms and toadstools of Britain and Europe by Edmund Garnweidner. I rarely use this book or the next one - the seem a bit patchy in places, and some of the information contradicts other books.
• A photographic guide to mushrooms of Britain and Europe by Paul Sterry. Again, I rarely use this book - it is no where near as authoritative as Phillips, and so falls between the jocularity of the edible mushroom book and the Phillips.

Agarics.org has a useful online mushroom identification engine.