Mushrooms and fungi in general are neither a plant nor an animal and they are often referred to as the 'Third Kingdom'. This fruiting body releases spores and these are spread by various methods. In general, the prime mushroom-hunting season starts in September and ends in March. The beginner to mushrooms might be surprised to discover the colour range of some mushroom caps from white, cream, brown and buff-coloured mushrooms to cap colours that are bright red, pink, vivid orange, canary yellow, deep blue, green, purple and black and some with mixed hues of different colours too. The caps can be smooth and dry, scaly, hard and gelatinous, warty, velvety or cracked. We have images here of the shapes of caps, gill structures and pore structures, types of stem and ring and all about safety and edibility. Then best of all each glossy page has a huge close up colour photograph of the mushroom and the index includes such fascinating names as the banded mottlegill, blackening wax cap, spiny puffball, tawny funnel cap and yellowing knight among them. For use in the field, this sturdy softback has a plasticised cover. 224 pages, colour.
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