Mushrooms of Western Canada

Suzanne Visser is a professional associate at the Kananaskis Centre for
Environmental Research, University of Calgary.

Schalkwijk-Barendsen has a passion for mushrooms—a passion that is
evident in this book, which is the product of 20 years of collecting,
describing, and painting mushrooms (predominantly from the Sandy Lake
and Edmonton areas in Alberta). Few mushroom enthusiasts will be able to
resist browsing through this book in their local bookstore, mainly
because the attractive cover with its painted illustrations of various
mushrooms demands attention.

The book is divided into four main sections: an introduction, which
presents basic information on the form, function, and taxonomy of
mushrooms and includes keys for identifying various families and genera
of mushrooms; a section of color illustrations, which is a collection of
paintings of 550 species of fungi; a section of detailed species
descriptions to accompany the illustrations; and a final section
consisting of glossaries, a reference list, and indexes of common names,
genera, and species of the mushrooms described in the book.

Identifying mushrooms using this manual depends primarily on meticulous
observation of a mushroom’s macroscopic characteristics (i.e., its
cap, gill, stalk, and flesh features; spore print color; odor; and
taste). Yet the introduction fails to give a detailed description of the
anatomy of a mushroom and an explanation of the macroscopic features one
must take into account when critically examining a specimen with the
goal of identifying it. Although line drawings of selected mushroom
characteristics are presented in the introduction and glossary, they are
inadequate for identification purposes, lacking both detail and
explanatory text. Information about the microscopic and chemical
characteristics of mushrooms, the various habitats mushrooms occupy, and
mushroom toxins (a topic that concerns many novice mushroom hunters) is
lacking and would have made a valuable addition to the introduction.
Also, details of how to use this manual to identify a mushroom should
have been included.

Mushrooms are often difficult to identify without the aid of precise
and accurate keys, and here this book has its limitations. The
illustrated key to fruiting bodies suffers from imprecise line drawings
that are poorly labelled, inaccuracies (not all stalked polypores
originate from sclerotia), and minimal accompanying text. Also, the
relevance of this key to the other, more specific keys is unclear. The
keys to the color illustrations are more precise, allowing one to
identify a mushroom’s family and genus by referring to the appropriate
illustrations. Keys to species are not included.

The color illustrations form the basis for the book and correspond to
the families and genera given in the previous keys. Unique features of
each family and species are conveniently summarized on the pages facing
the illustrations. Although paintings of mushrooms are visually
appealing, they tend to lack the detail required to make a precise
identification; also, accurate coloration is often difficult to achieve
in paintings. For these reasons, attempts to identify mushrooms using
the illustrations alone (a practice often employed by novices) may be
problematic and misleading. Common names, many created by the author,
are given preference to scientific names—an approach that may cause
some confusion when consulting other manuals, since standardization of
common names for mushrooms is practically nonexistent. Page headings
giving the families illustrated or described would have facilitated
rapid location of particular groups of mushrooms in both this and the
following section.

Detailed species descriptions follow the illustrations, with each
species cross-referenced to the appropriate illustration. In addition to
the fruit-body statistics, valuable information regarding distribution,
habitat, ecology, fruiting times, and edibility is provided for each
species, making this the most interesting section of the book. The
English translations of the Latin or Greek species names are
particularly useful. Reference to the cosmopolitan nature of the
majority of fungi seems redundant and could have been omitted.

This book is important in that it describes mushroom species collected
from an area of North America that hitherto had received little
attention. The lack of precise keys and the use of paintings rather than
photographs may limit this manual’s usefulness in field
identification. However, it is highly recommended that this book be used
in conjunction with the other comprehensive field guides currently on
the market, particularly when studying mushrooms in Alberta. With its
economical price, it would form a valuable and attractive addition to
both natural-history and mycology libraries.