Foraging books

[ForgeCorvus]

Theres also Mycokey for both an online and a downloadable fungus identifier

[Frnc]

Theres also Mycokey for both an online and a downloadable fungus identifier

Can't get their web version to work. Tried 3 browsers. Is it just me?

I have an app on my phone called Shroomify. It has a key plus sections like fungi for current month, choice edibles and poisonous. Shows a graph for UK seasonal observations and gives links. Also page number for Roger Phillips book. Costs £3.49 for premium (one off).

[Vitamin c]

After watching that film with Alex supertramp in again I used my phone too look up poisonous plants and found almost strength away.
Cuckoo pint... Super nasty but I'm sure you could do the same with edibles.

Be sure before you munch.

[Nurseandy]

Somewhere (lost in house move) I have a book called (I think) The Foragers Calendar, tells you what to look for in the UK throughout the year. I'll see if I can find an amazon link. Also of course as others have said, Richard mabeys Foof for Free, lives in the car glovebox.

[Frnc]

Re mushrooms.
The Collins Gem book is great considering the size.
Wild Food UK book is also definitely worth taking into the field.
You need to bring them home and most likely take spore prints anyway, so you can have bigger books at home for reference. There are several good choices - Phillips, Dann, Kibby, Overall. The 2 volume set Fungi of Temperate Europe by Thomas Laessoe is the one I have.
Shame the Marcell book is out of print, that's a good field guide. I got a second hand copy but I seemed to be allergic to it so I sent it back!

[GillyBee]

I have just purchased Wild Food UK's book "Foraging" by Marlow Renton and Eric Biggaine after seeing it at a Bushcraft festival. I can see why others have recommended it.
The photos are the best I have seen for identifying plants, trees and funghi . They put easily confused plants together on adjacent pages and include (clearly labelled) the poisonous or risky ones too.

[Frnc]

I have just purchased Wild Food UK's book "Foraging" by Marlow Renton and Eric Biggaine after seeing it at a Bushcraft festival. I can see why others have recommended it.
The photos are the best I have seen for identifying plants, trees and funghi . They put easily confused plants together on adjacent pages and include (clearly labelled) the poisonous or risky ones too.

Yes, excellent book. Their website is great, too. It has a web page for almost every edible you can think of, and poisonous plants and fungi. Eack web page has a load of photos with notes, a desription section with photos, including lookalikes, and often a youtube video.

[Frnc]

Theres also Mycokey for both an online and a downloadable fungus identifier

I've just realised, the two volume book set I bought is by the Mycokey guys. Also they make the wheels from the books freely available as a 190MB pdf.
http://www.mycokey.com/Downloads/FungiO ... Wheels.pdf
I've been reading the intro to the books. They say to use them you first have to figure out if your fungi produces spores internally or externally. This decision takes you to one of the first two wheels.
Paraphrasing...
If it generates pores externally it will have a smooth surface, the hymenium. If this is pointed upwards, it is likely to be an ascomycote. These fire spores out at much greater force than basidiomycotes. If it is pointed downwards or has a vertical structure, it is likely to be a basidiomycote. If it is folded eg wrinkles pores gills or spines it is likely to be a basidiomycote.

The Scarlet Elfcup is therfore easily deduced as an external spore producer, ascomycote. From the first wheel it's one jump to the page 1278 wheel, which is very simple, then to the one on page 1328, and from there to the species, which are all in Latin names to avoid confusion. Easy peasy.

[Frnc]

Note: Internal spore producers are also divided into ascomycotes and basidiomycotes.

Most basidiomycotes are external producers with the smooth surface (hymenium). Normally it's on the underside in the form of gills, pores etc, or as vertical structures. This is because basidiomycotes only release spores with a weak force, so they rely on gravity to carry them away. Obviously if a gill is releasing spores it doesn't want to be firing them into the next gill. The gills etc are there to increase the surface area for spore release.

[jansman]

I am looking forward to the mushroom season. Hopefully we’ll get proper rain in September,and that will cause a good flush of fungus. We get a good crop of wood and field blewitts, puffballs, parasols and morels as a rule. My old friend and me have a mooch locally on Sundays during Autumn,along with a catapult apiece,and we often nail a pigeon or pheasant.