Things Mycological
Links
Mycological Society of America - Professional mycology in North America.
North American Mycological Society - The amateur arm of mycology.
Tom Volk's Fungi - A premier mycological website: teaching tips, FAQs, and the ever-popular Fungus of the Month.
MykoWeb - Lots and lots of beautiful photos, particularly of California fungi.
Rod Tulloss's Amanita pages - Your site for All Things Amanita.
All About Inkcaps - The Coprinus site of Kees Uljé.
Deep Hypha and Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life - Two related consortia involved with determining the deep branches in fungal phylogeny.
US Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory
IndexFungorum - When you need to know the up-to-date scientific name of a fungus...
Authors of Fungal Names - Kirk & Ansell, version 2. Absolutely vital resource if you're publishing a paper on fungal taxonomy; really boring if you're just browsing the web, looking for fun fungal sites.


There are hundreds and hundreds of other mycological sites out there. You can get to quite a number of them through links you can find at the above sites, in particular the Mycological Society of America and North American Mycological Society sites.

Books
I am listing a few of the books with which I am most familiar. Please note that failure to list a book does not in any way imply condemnation of that book. Prices listed are publisher's list price; you may be able to find the book for less.

General Mushroom Identification
Arora, David (1986) Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press, 1020 pp. $39.95. A classic in entertaining, thorough mushroom identification. The book is useful throughout North America, but offers more coverage of West Coast species than of Eastern ones (the author is in California). Kind of short on colored pictures, but indispensible to the serious field mycologist.

Bessette, Alan E., Arleen R. Bessette & David W. Fischer (1997) Mushrooms of Northeastern North America. Syracuse University Press, 582 pp. $45.00 (paperback) The Northeast's answer to the Southwestern Mushrooms Demystified. Like Mushrooms Demystified, is somewhat low on colored pictures, but indispensible. I use this book more than any other to identify unknown mushrooms.

Lincoff, Gary A. (1981) National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. Alfred A. Knopf, 928 pp. $19.95. Very large number of colored pictures, organized (like the bird books) by shape and color. This is useful in identifying a completely unknown muchroom; a bit annoying in identifying a mushroom when you know the family or genus to which it belongs and want things organized taxonomically. A worthwhile companion to either or both of the above books. One of the most portable books on this page, a field guide you can truly carry into the field.

Barron, George (1999) Mushrooms of Northeast North America. Lone Pine Press, 336 pp. $19.95. Its strong point is its photos. There are fewer photos than in the Audubon book, and fewer species covered, but the pictures are larger and the species descriptions are on the same page as the pictures, instead of segregated in the back of the book.

Identification of Specialized Groups
Brodo, Irwin M., Sylvia Duran Sharnoff & Stephen Sharnoff (2001) Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, 828 pp. $85.00 (available in hardcover only). It sounds expensive, but for what this book is, it's an incredible bargain. Chock full of color pictures, and by far the most detailed and complete key to lichens you're ever likely to find.

Bessette, Alan E., William C. Roody & Arleen R. Bessette (2000) North American Boletes. Syracuse University Press, 396 pp. $95.00 (available in hardcover only). The only recent book on boletes. Very thorough.

Updated August 16, 2004.