Fungi

Mushrooms
Almost all of the mushrooms, as commonly understood, belong to the Basidiomycota. However a few species commonly called mushrooms are actually members of the Ascomycota, most notably the morels, cup fungi, and the truffles. The web is blessed with a abundance of wonderful sites on mushrooms. This interest is partly intrinisic and partly because of the delicious wonders found among the mushrooms. But like most things in life, the collecting and eating of mushrooms is not something to be taken lightly. Although many mushrooms are great to eat, some are deadly poisonous and it is often not easy to tell the difference between them. The cardinal rule in collecting wild mushrooms for consumption is: do not eat anything you are not absolutely sure about. Even then there is an element of danger involved. Most mushroom collectors advise that you should start with mushrooms that are readily identifiable, such as morels. I have personally watched a world authority on mushroom systematics poison himself because of a mushroom misidentification. If you wish to start collecting mushrooms to eat, you might first read some of the recommendations about collecting contained in some of the sites listed below. If you can, join a local mushroom club and get the advice of experienced collectors.

Myko Web. Michael Web. This is a great site on mushrooms. It contains a guide to the fungi of the San Francisco Bay area, fungi photographs, fungi humor, wild mushroom recipes, and much more. A great place to go for anyone interested in mushrooms.

Tom Volk's Fungi. Tom Volk's Home Page has wonderful photographs, links to other mycological sites, and other resources. A premier fungi site.

Mushroom Heaven. A non-technical introduction to mushrooms.

Real Answers About Mushrooms. D. Fischer. This site has basic, non-technical, information about mushrooms.

Fungi Perfecti. A commercial site, but with information on the mushroom life cycle, photographs, and information on mushroom cultivation. You can also find a photograph of mushrooms glowing in the dark.

MycoElectronica. John Dhabolt. A general mushroom site, mostly in preparation, but with sections on mushrooms on postage stamps and mushroom poisons.

Ralph's Finest Fungi Fancier File. Ralph Czerepinski. The best parts of this site is a set of saftey rules for collecting mushrooms for consumption and a series of photographs of his favorite mushrooms.

Wild Mushrooms. Although this site is from Slovenia and the mushrooms are European, the pictures are attractive and the information useful. Be sure to check out the mushroom recipes.

 

Regional

Common Fungi of the Bay Area. M. Wood and F. Stevens. A truly wonderful site on the mushrooms found in the San Francisco Bay region. Each species includes a photograph and species description. You can also find a general glossary of fungi terms here.

The Boletes of California. Harry D. Thiers. The boletes are a particular group of mushrooms including the genus Boletus. This is an online version of this well known book. It includes basic information about the group, keys to genera and species, and descriptions and figures of all of the species found in California.

Mycology Guide. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. A collection of photographs of mushrooms found along the Pacific Coast near Mendocino, California.

Mushrooms of Northeastern North America. This is a commercial site promoting the sale of a book with above name. However it has sample photographs of mushrooms and, more importantly, a key to the mushroom genera of North America.

Florida Fungi. Bill Petty. An attractive site on the mushrooms of Florida. You'll find a very nice gallery of mushrooms from Florida, links to other mushroom sites, and some wild mushroom recipes.

Online Field guide to Central Illinois Mushrooms. Michael Kuo, Illinois Department of Natural Resources. A nice guide to mushrooms your likely to find in the midewestern United States. You'll find a tour of some of the more common mushrooms of the area and a mushroom identifier in the form of a key.

Kisatchie Mushrooms. A nice gallery of mushroom photographs from the Kisatchie National Forest of central Louisiana as well as checklist of the species of the region.

Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of Missouri. Barbara Basett. A very nice site on the edible and poisonous mushrooms of Missouri with figures of each and information on their biology, identification, and how to find them.

Western Montana Mushrooms PhotoGuide. Western Montana Mycological Society. A very large gallery of mushrooms from western Montana. However many species of mushrooms are found widely throughout North America and you may find your mushroom from the gallery.

Zen's WNC Nature Notebook. Zen Sutherland. A marvelous site on the natural history of western North Carolina. Among other things you'll find photographs and information on mushrooms of the region. Informative, attractive, simple, and very easy on the mind and eye.

Centex Naturalist. Selected Topics of Natural History for Bell County Texas. Jerry Evans. Although at first look this may look like a very specific site. However, you'll find a marvelous collection of photographs of a wide variety of natural history items here ranging from mushrooms, marine diatoms, rotifers, crystals, fossils, to geological sites. A great place just to play around looking at pictures.

Fungi that may be in Wisconsin. Tom Volk. Photographs of fungi found in Wisconsin, almost all mushrooms.

 

Photo Gallerys

Eileen's Mushroom Mania. Eileen Seto. A very fine collection of mushroom photographs.

Nathan's Fungi Photo Index. Nathan Wilson. A gallery of mushroom photographs.

Treasures from the Kingdom of Fungi. Taylor Lockwood. A marvelous series of photographs of fungi.

Commercially-harvested Edible Forest Mushrooms. D. Pilz et al. This site is about the commercial harvesting of wild mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest with many photographs.

 

Specific

A Revision of Collybia s.l. in the Northeastern United States and Canada. Roy Halling. This site is just what the title says it is. It includes key to genera related to Collybia, descriptive treatments of the genera, keys to species, species descriptions, and photographs and figures.

The State of Taxonomy of the Genus Armillaria. T. Volk. The systematics of this genus of mushrooms with a key to species and photographs and information on each of the species.

The Russulales Website. Steven L. Miller and Terry M. McClean. Some of the more common mushrooms encountered in the wild belong to the genera Russula nd Lactarius. This web site contains an extensive photographic gallery of the various species of these two genera, a phylogeny of the group as a whole, pictures of the morphology of the group, and a bibliography.

The Mycena Page. A. Aronsen. I have always had a particular fondness for the species of the genus Mycena. This web site contains a large gallery of photographs of species of Mycena from around the world. Unfortunately there is little information associated with the photographs.