Marrone Teresa - Mushrooms of the Northwest

Acknowledgments

Some of this material has appeared in Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest , by Teresa Marrone and Kathy Yerich. It may have been edited for the Northwest.

Cover, book design and illustrations by Jonathan Norberg

Page layout by Teresa Marrone

Edited by Brett Ortler

Photo credits by photographer and page number:

All photos by Drew Parker unless noted.

Cover photo: Rainbow Chanterelle (Cantharellus roseocanus) by Drew Parker

Additional photo credits

Teresa Marrone: , T. pubescens .

Walt Sturgeon: , Slippery Jack.

.

Others: , Hairs at base: Kathy Yerich.

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Mushrooms of the Northwest

Copyright 2019 by Teresa Marrone and Drew Parker

Published by Adventure Publications, an imprint of AdventureKEEN

330 Garfield Street South

Cambridge, Minnesota 55008

(800) 678-7006

www.adventurepublications.net

All rights reserved

Printed in China

ISBN 978-1-59193-792-0 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-59193-793-7 (ebook)

Table of Contents

About This Book

This book was written with the beginning mushroom enthusiast in mind. It is a pocket-size field guide featuring hundreds of the most common species in the Northwest, with clear pictures and additional comparisons for each species. Many beginner books feature just the top eminently edible and deadly toxic varieties, while leaving out the hundredsmaybe thousandsof other species that grow in the area. Some books are generalized and may present descriptions and photos of mushrooms that dont grow in our area, the Northwest. Given the sheer number of mushroom species in the Northwest alone, one book cannot cover every species you are likely to find especially not one youd care to carry into the field!

This book includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Our hope is that this book will both spark your interest about mushrooms and provide you with the means to learn more. A list of useful resources is included at the end of this book, as is a list of some mushroom terms you may encounter in those and other resources. First and foremost, we have arranged the entries in this book by what they look like, or their morphology . Many of the genus and species names that originally placed a mushroom in a certain family were assigned by experts because of the mushrooms physical appearance, and many other books arrange species based on their scientific names, grouping members of a genus together. But it is hard to look up a mushroom in a book by its name when you dont have a clue what it is yet.

Many misidentifications start with a hopeful guess that guides you to a book entry that, while incorrect, may have numerous features that seem to match the specimen you have found. The temptation is strong to force the description to fit what you have in hand. This can be a dangerous path to travel when attempting to identify wild mushrooms; a mistaken identification may prove harmful or, in the worst case, even fatal if a misidentified mushroom is eaten because the reader attempted to make the specimen fit the description given in a book. For this reason, we strongly advise that novice mushroom enthusiasts consult multiple reliable references or, better still, a local authority who can verify the identity of the mushroom in question before it is eaten.

Remember, too, that when attempting to compare features of mushrooms in various references or when discussing them with other enthusiasts, the scientific name (which is always in Latin) must be used. The colorful, sometimes descriptive and often humorous common names of mushrooms are fun but can vary by region and are not a truly reliable way to label a species. Using the Latin genus and species name, referred to as taxonomy , is the standard and most respected way of referring to a specific variety. However, without a microscope it is often impossible to determine the difference between species with similar appearances. Even some scientists have been overheard in the field referring to a drab specimen simply as an LBM (little brown mushroom).

To make things more complicated, as more species are discovered and scientists have the ability to study them in more depth with microscopic examination, mating studies and DNA sequencing, authorities are finding that many of the mushrooms that were given their Latin name hundreds of years ago may belong to a different genus than that to which they were originally assigned. In fact, some of the names remain in constant flux, creating so much confusion that at any one time a specific mushroom could be referred to by multiple names, depending on your source. Again, weve attempted to list as many species as possible while keeping this a pocket-size book. Weve also used single quotes around names (such as Russula densifolia ) used for species which appear in, say, Europe but not in North America; this means that specimens found in North America are very similar but not exactly the same as their European counterparts, but a new name has not yet been published.

There is also a complete index starting on pg. 282 referencing both common and Latin names, and youll see that we have included both on the ID pages.

No person is born with the knowledge to identify mushrooms; it must be learned from books, teachers and other sources, as well as a lot of time spent in the field. We have been greatly aided in our decades-long studies by numerous people who generously shared their expertise with us. In writing this book we have also consulted many excellent books and other sources; a list of the best is included in .

We would like to thank Kathy Yerich, co-author (with Teresa Marrone) of Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest . That book is the first in this series of mushroom identification guides, and the basic structure of Mushrooms of the Northwest is based on the Upper Midwest book. Some of the text in the Northwest book is picked up or adapted from the Upper Midwest book, and we gratefully acknowledge Kathys contributions.

What Is a Mushroom?

Mycology is the study of mushrooms. In very general terms, mushrooms and macro fungi are the fruiting bodies of organisms from the fungi kingdom. Indeed, many references refer to the aboveground portion of a fungal organism as a fruitbody , although the word mushroom is far more common in everyday use. Mushrooms are not plants, because unlike plants they do not use sunlight to photosynthesize their food. More like animals, they use enzymes to break down what they consume. In their role as decomposers of organic material, fungi are essential to life on earth, because without them, the world would be buried in its own debris. In the forest, fungi break down dead or dying organic matter and render it into soil, making it usable for new growth.

The mycelium (root-like filaments) of the organism may spread for miles underground, or inhabit an entire tree. The part that we see (and harvest, if we so choose) is comparable to the fruit we pick from a tree; the treeand the myceliumremains to bear fruit the following season. Like fruits, mushrooms can also assist in reproduction; just as an apple produces seeds that can grow into a new tree, mushrooms produce microscopic spores that are dispersed by wind, insects or other vectors, allowing the larger organism to spread into new areas. Of course, that is a very simple description. There are thousands of species of fungi with complicated life cycles and growth patterns. Learning some basic mycological terms and understanding how mushrooms grow and reproduce will help you understand some of what youll encounter, but because of the staggering amount of diversity youll run into, it is more important to learn how to decipher what you are seeing.