Mushroom Profiles

History and Detailed Protocols for Recognizing Wild Mushrooms

 

The Genus Amanita
The mushrooms in the genus Amanita are famed for their beauty — and the fact that they are responsible for 95% of all mushroom-related fatalities. Knowing these is a must for the beginning collector. Detailed coverage, section by section.


Echinodontium ballouii , a real American ivory-billed woodpecker
Echinodontium ballouii was named in 1909, and declared extinct shortly thereafter. However, two American mycologists ventured into a frozen swamp in the depth of winter a hundred years later to discover it anew.

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Echinodontium ballouii: from eyeballs to DNA
William Hosea Ballou (biographical sketch)


Spongiforma squarepantsii
Spongiforma squarepantsii is not a mushroom-cartoon cyborg but a gasteroid bolete with an almost-unique morphology.