The fifth order of the natural kingdom is made up of an estimated 1.5 million species of fungi, found in every habitat type worldwide. The Book of Fungi takes 600 of the most remarkable fleshy fungi from around the world and reproduces each at its actual size, in full colour, and accompanied by a scientific explanation of its distribution, habitat, association, abundance, growth form, spore colour and edibility. Location maps give at-a-glance indications of each species known global distribution, and specially commissioned engravings show different fruitbody forms and provide the vital statistics of height and diameter. Theres a place, too, for readers to discover the more bizarre habits of fungi from the predator that hunts its prey with lassos to the one that entices sows by releasing the pheromones of a wild boar. Mushrooms, morels, puffballs, toadstools, truffles, chanterelles fungi from habitats spanning the poles and the tropics, from the highest mountains to our own gardens are all on display in this definitive work.
Mengenai Pengarang
Shelley Evans was conservation officer for the British Mycological Society for ten years, and is on the executive committee of the European Council for the Conservation of Fungi and the IUCN world specialist group for fungi. She is co-author of Pocket Nature: Fungi and is on the editorial board of the journal Field Mycology. She is an experienced field mycologist, having undertaken field trips throughout the British Isles and Europe, as well as North America.