Product Description
The ubiquitous fungi are little known and vastly underappreciated. Yet, without them we wouldn’t have bread, alcohol, cheese, tofu, or the unique flavors of mushrooms, morels, and truffles. We can’t survive without fungi.

The Kingdom Fungi provides a comprehensive look at the biology, structure, and morphological diversity of these necessary organisms. It sheds light on their ecologically important roles in nature, their fascinating relationships with people, plants, and animals, and their practical applications in the manufacture of food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. The book includes information about “true” fungi, fungus-like creatures (slime molds and water molds), and a group of “composite” organisms (lichens) that are more than just fungi. Particular attention is given to examples of fungi that might be found in the home and encountered in nature.

The Kingdom Fungi is a useful introductory text for naturalists, mycologists, and anyone who wants to become more familiar with, and more appreciative of, the fascinating world of fungi.
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Product Description
Methods of producing the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, have advanced dramatically over the past decade, and for the most part improvements in technology have been generated by fundamental advances in our understanding of the basic biology of the crop. This book, in one well-structured and comprehensive volume, draws together this important research work, and represents the cumulative knowledge and experience of one of the world's leading mushroom research teams. The multi-authored approach has encouraged the comprehensive treatment of a topic within a chapter, but strong editing has equally emphasised the many overlaps and links between topics. Aspects discussed include the history, general biology, cultural systems, nutrition, biochemistry, genetics, growth, fruiting, food value and chemical composition of the mushroom. Sections of special value to growers will include compost preparation, spawn production, crop productivity, post-harvest storage and the chapters on pests and bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens. The whole book is very extensively referenced. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Peptides of Poisonous Amanita Mushrooms
I was looking for something with sociological, historical, and/or folkloric information on the use of Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms or accounts of the effects of them. This book is not that at all. All about molecular biology of Amanita Phalliodes and Amanita Virosa Mushrooms. Because its so technical most of this book either went over my head or just plain bored me. If your into your into reading about molecular biology and chemistry of Amanita Mushrooms put together in a way that only appeals to people with PHDs in the subject matter than this is a good book for you but not for the layman. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Mushroom News, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1171 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: U.S. Organic Farm Sector continues to expand.(mushroom biology)
Author: Catherine Greene
Publication: Mushroom News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 55Issue: 7Page: 10(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
A photographic view of a large variety of mushrooms in their natural environment, most of which were found within 3 miles of the author's home in the Catskill Mountains. Text identifiies species, edibility, history, botany, aiming to increase awareness of the beauty and variety of mushrooms as well as dispel myths and fallacies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

All reading no photos
The images are all black and white photocopies. Very hard to identify mushrooms by using this book

Pictures in black and white-not helpful--GOOD CONTENT!
I have 2 other mushroom guides, Mushrooms Demystified and All the Rain Promises (AWESOME PICTURES) and this was a great supplement for my area to distinguish local mushrooms.Used the content of this book with info gained from the other two and pictures and were able to enjoy some new varieties of edible mushrooms this year since morels were in short supply in our area.Great reference! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

Excellent book!
My husband reads a LOT of nature books.I got this for him but I liked this one too.This is an excellent guide to the basics of mushroom identification, great explanations, great photos.It focuses on some basic mushrooms, the best thing is it shows the alternative possibilities of what other mushrooms each mushroom could resemble.... great for "differential diagnosis".Maybe the best first mushroom book for someone who really wants to learn mushroom identification.

best mushroom book I've ever seen!
This book is so much fun!It's a great read, and knowing about edible mushrooms really enhances our family hikes, not to mention our meals.I bought this book just in time for morel season this spring, and we've been eating wild mushrooms of various kinds ever since.(We just finished a hen-of-the-woods, and have a bag of oysters ready to fry up for supper.)

This field guide is so much better than other mushroom field guides because it deals with only two categories of mushrooms: the edible ones and the inedible look-alikes.There are lovely pictures on almost every page, and helpful hints to let even a beginner feel totally confident with identification.The style is friendly, often funny, and very readable--I've found my 7-year-old curled up reading this book several times.

The recipe section has some basic recipes and some way out-there recipes (morel tiramisu, anyone?). The book does deserve the name of "field to kitchen guide," but the emphasis is definitely on the "field" section--first things first, after all.I'm hoping for a more recipe-oriented sequel someday!

Mushrooms of Illinois
Great book, the pictures are outstanding and the recipes are great.We take walks in the woods and always take this book with us.Morels used to be the only mushrooms that I would harvest, but with this book I feel more confident in harvesting some of the more easily identified mushrooms.

Mushroom Hunters
I purchased this book for my mother as she is a Morel Mushroom hunter. She loves hunting for mushrooms. I thought this book would give her information on the morels as well as other mushrooms. My mother loved the book. Anyone who loves hunting mushrooms will love this book.

Learn native Mushrooms in my backyard.
I am finding many different mushrooms, around this summer. perhaps because its been so rainy. Want to know which ones are safe to eat. ... Read more

Product Description
Stinkhorns, puffballs, the 'corpse finder,' deadlyGalerina, Satan's bolete, birch conks, black mold, the old man of the woods--the world of fungi is infinitely varied and not a little weird. Now, inMr. Bloomfield's Orchard, Nicholas Money introduces readers to a dazzling array of fungi, from brewer's yeast and Penicillium to the highly lethal death cap. We learn of Madurella, which can erode bones until they look moth-eaten; Cordyceps, which wracks insects with convulsions, kills them, then sends a stalk out of the insect's head to release more infectious spores; and Claviceps, the poisonous ergot fungus, which causes hallucinations. Money also showcases the lives of famed mycologists--including Reginald Buller who wore horse blinders as he walked to work, the better to study luminescent fungi in his dark lab, and Charles Tulasne, the Audubon of fungi, whose illustrations of specimens border on art. And he recounts his own childhood introduction to fungi in Mr. Bloomfield's orchard, where trees and fruit were devoured by a rogue's gallery of bitter rot, canker, rust, powdery mildew, rubbery wood, and scab. Replete with historical photographs and simple yet effective illustrations, told with a refreshing sense of humor,Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard will fascinate anyone interested in the natural world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

What's with the erectile reference?
The author of this book had strange sense of humor. Beneficially, he can hold your attention with his sexual descriptions and off the wall comments. You can't really go a chapter without laughing at one of his side notes. I really didn't have an interest in mushrooms but my botany nerd friend highly recommened it to me. I'm glad he did and I also recommend it to you due to it's cleverness.

Fascinating overview of the world of fungus
_Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard_ by Nicholas P. Money is an interesting introduction to the world of fungi and mycologists.

The first chapter looked at mushrooms. He began with a discussion (and illustrations) of the infamous phallic mushrooms. Surprisingly, they shared more similarities with their namesakes than just their overall shape; while most of the volume of the erect fungal fruiting body is air, like in the mammalian penis its erection is maintained by pressurized fluid rather than any column of solid tissue (though in the case of mammals, it is blood, while the mushroom is supported by pressurized water).

Many mushrooms like flowers rely upon insects (often flies) that they have attracted to disperse their spores. Stinkhorns and the Sumatran giant corpse flower evolved parallel features to attract carrion-feeding insects.

Though mushrooms exist only for spore production and dispersal they are absolutely amazing feats of mechanical engineering. Spores are catapulted from spore-producing structures called basidia by immense mechanical forces. Thanks in part to the mushroom being cooler than its surrounding environment, water condenses on two different parts of the spore's surface. When these two globs of water become large enough to make contact, the resulting convergence produces enough power to hurtle a spore at thousands of g's away for a few milliseconds before it falls beneath the cap and is swept away by air currents (in the right lighting one can see a dusty plume of basidiospores swirling away).

Some fungus though are not as water-dependent in their method of spore dispersal (such as puffballs, which expel their spores in response to any disturbance). As a result these mushrooms are able to colonize drier soils, even deserts.

Chapter two looked at several fungal infections (mycoses), such as the infections of skin, hair, and nails caused by a group called dermatophytes and meningitis (which is caused by a yeast known as _Cryptococcus_).Fungi though are mainly opportunistic and many can only colonize human victims if there is already some injury or disease at work.

There was a discussion of why many fungi are black. They possess melanin, a pigment like that found in human skin. This substance helps fungi avoid detection and destruction by the immune system when inside a body and for those on the exterior of buildings or rocks serves to protect the fungus's living cells from the damaging effects of solar radiation (this also protects the algal partner of lichen by the way).

Chapter three looked at a very important aspect of understanding fungal biology, how they penetrate things. All fungi flourish by burrowing into solid substances and transforming them into food, whether they are leaves, wood, skin, a house, or even growing into granite to seek out food. In this chapter the author looked at the potent mechanical forces (using water pressure, an appreciation of which is vital in understanding fungal biology) and cell-wall degrading enzymes that fungi employ. The reader learns that fungi draw upon a "seemingly boundless catalog of enzymes to digest their surroundings" and that fungi are surprisingly flexible in this regard, that even fungi for instance that normally digest only plant tissues have an innate capacity to consume animal tissue, an astonishing nutritional flexibility.

Chapter four examined the life cycles of some fungus species, how some fungi alternate asexual (anamorphic) stages with sexual (teleomorphic) stages. Properly naming fungi in the different stages of their life cycle is hard - "there is nothing more perplexing in the entire field of mycology" - and has lead to a vast number of fungi given scientific names twice because the observer discovered the fungi at only one part of its larger life cycle.

Chapter four also featured discussions of ergot fungus (a pathogen of rye whose toxins can cause hallucinations and gangrenous hands and feet), truffles, lichen, and yeast (incredibly important to both human nutrition and biological research, though the author admits "hard as I have tried, I've never felt excited by this simplest of fungi").

The fifth chapter looked at two pioneering mycologists.

Chapter six looked at two types of water fungi, the passive Ingoldian spores, which float through the water, if fortunate hitting a suitable new food source before it is eaten, buried in the mud, or carried away by the current to oblivion, and the zoospores, which are active swimmers,seeking new food sources (an example of the latter are the chytrids, which have been blamed in part for a worldwide decline in frogs).

The seventh chapter looked at sexual reproduction and the production of fruiting bodies in fungi, particularly mushrooms. Surprisingly, some mushrooms are the result of group sex as they have developed after many compatible strains have fused in the soil. As a result, a single species of ink-cap mushroom for instance might encompass hundreds of different strains. When different strains of fungus meet, they either fight or fuse. If they fight, "warring mycelia attack their opponent's hyphae and produce thick, melanin-impregnated walls to resist each other's poisons" but if they fuse they produce fruiting bodies, whether it is a mushroom on the forest floor or a bracket fungus growing outside a tree.

Chapter eight looked at mushroom poisons, whether they produce gastrointestinal distress, hallucinations, organ damage and failure, or death. Not all mycotoxins are produced by fruiting bodies, as non-fruiting mycelia produce substances called aflatoxins, traces of which can be found in many different foods.

The author discounted notions that fungi are so toxic so as to kill off those who would eat them. As many of these toxins are very slow acting, sometimes taking weeks to take full effect, he believed that mycotoxins exist to target rival fungi and produce an extra supply of nutrients in the form of dead bacteria.

The final chapter looked at fungal caused plant diseases, examining in particular black stem rust on wheat, potato blight, and rice blast, revisiting the complexity of fungal life cycles (which in some species involve different species at different stages), and also looked at mycoparasites (fungi that infect other fungi).

Intriguing Look at Fungi and Molds - Absolutely Fascinating
I had never considered mycology, the study of mushrooms, molds, and fungi, to be particularly interesting, once again demonstrating how wrong I can be. I had trouble breaking away from this oddly titled book, Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard. The author, Nicholas P. Money, a research mycologist, has an infectious enthusiasm and a delightful sense of humor, as well as that rare ability to create exceptional science literature for the educated reader.

Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is more challenging than most popular science books; it is sufficiently detailed to make ideal supplementary reading for biology undergraduate students. I can well imagine that Money's book will be responsible for a surge in applicants to mycology graduate programs.

I was especially fascinated by the complex life cycle of various molds and fungi, their incredible resistance to extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals, and radioactivity, and their remarkable ability to draw upon a seemingly endless set of enzymes to digest their surroundings, whatever that might be. A particular fungus that kills grass on the golf course and never feeds on animals in the wild, has demonstrated the innate capability to consume animal tissue when isolated in the lab from vegetative matter. Money speculates that this remarkable adaptability of molds and fungi offers profound insights into their long evolutionary history, some 3.5 billion years.It somehow seems fitting that there are indeed molds that specialize in consuming other molds.

Money injects humor, and occasional social comment, into his account of fungi and friends. He mentions for example:A black mold is working on a shampoo bottle in my shower, which is ironic because the contents are supposed to possess antifungal properties that suppress dandruff (this fungus is in for a surprise if it breaks through the plastic).

Five stars for Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard - The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Fungi.

Fantastic Book!
Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is far and away the best introduction to the science of mycology for general audience readers and mycology devotees alike. Nicholas Money has a way with words, and his dry sense of humor makes this book a pleasure to read. The one-star review on this page by "Johnny" represents a misguided interpretation of Money's irreverence. The book is certainly NOT racist, and Money makes fun of Western cultures with equal wit (incidentally, I am a Chinese American--one who has studied racist discourse and Orientalism).

An Unhappy Reader
Here is a direct quote from page 6 of the book: "...it is a tragedy in a country as populous as China that anything from tiger turds to whale afterbirths can be sold as long as the suggestion is made that their consumption enhances erectile function."What racist garbage!Here is another Eurocentric writer making judgements on another culture.It reminds me of the explorers on Darwin's Beagle who tried to "civilize" the Tierra del Fuego "savages".

I am disappointed that Oxford University Press would allow such ignorant comments to be published in a book whose primary audience is "educated" people.It is sickening that a book like this is published without anyone questioning the appropriateness of such offensive remarks.

I'm sorry, but I put the book away after reading the first chapter, and I am sorry that I wasted $14.95. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

A Beautiful Book
As a 'shroom' lover, I collect all the best of books on mushroom growing, recipes, and photos. This is one of them.
Anna Marie Fritz, author of "Funny Feline Fotos" and other amazon books.

Shroomery
Beautiful photography make this a great coffee table book for all shroom lovers out there. Recipes are a little tough for city dwellers to make as so many of the mushrooms aren't found around here. Perhaps if you owned a B& B in a fairytale-like forest. Otherwise buy for whimsical perusal only. ... Read more

Product Description
The northeastern United States is home to an enormous variety of mushrooms--some delicious, some deadly. This handy in-the-field guide offers identification information for some 50 mushrooms that mushroom hunters are most likely to encounter in the wild: Parasol Mushroom, Delicious Lactarius, Sulphur Shelf, Giant Puffball. It also features detailed photos illustrating the characteristics to look for when identifying mushrooms and natural history information--where they grow, when they appear, and the various forms they take.This handy identification guide features the "foolproof five" and includes a useful identification flowchart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

depends what your looking for
this book is as simple as it gets, a great book to start out with.he covers the fool proof 5,some stuff to stay away from,and if your smart,more stuff to stay away from.if you know nothing,you will learn alot.if you want to identify as many mushrooms as possible,look elsewhere.

Common Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northeast
This is a re-release of a 1960 booklet.It is of interest to historical mycologists but not very useful to amateurs who need a book to keep them away from toxic mushrooms. There are some good pictures; unfortunately, most of them are on the cover of the book. ... Read more

Product Description
If you like to gather mushrooms, study them, or eat them -- you will want this informal, practical guide to nearly one-hundred edible species and one hundred savory recipes.All are described in simple, non-technical language.Over two-hundred photographs and drawings, many in full color. Glossary.Index. Two-hundred pages.

Whether you like to go afield for your edible mushrooms -- or to your favorite grocer -- this handbook will introduce you to a hundred delicious species, and a hundred ways to prepare them. ... Read more

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Product Description
From dust jacket flap: To most people the mushroom is known mainly as a food or garnishing, which in the hands of an expert chef is a source of delectation. To them it will come as a surprise to learn of the extent, complexity and interest of fungi, the branch of vegetable life to which mushrooms belong.This is an Oversize Folio book which contains a section of comprehensive up-to-date selection of mushrooms which assists you in learning about mushrooms and also contains and atlas of mushrooms.. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Mushroom News, published by American Mushroom Institute on July 1, 2010. The length of the article is 523 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: PTI deadlines pushed back.(mushroom biology)(Produce Traceability Initiative)
Author: Unavailable
Publication: Mushroom News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2010
Publisher: American Mushroom Institute
Volume: 58Issue: 7Page: 16(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more