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Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager's Field Guide
The complete introduction to finding, identifying and using mushrooms and other fungi in New Zealand
Enter and explore the fascinating world of fungi.
In this practical and up-to-date guide, forager and fungus enthusiast Liv Sisson shares her top tips and takes the reader on a journey to discover the unique and diverse fungi Aotearoa has to offer.
Discover how to identify the best edible varieties, and how to cook with them, how these incredible organisms have shaped the world as we know it, and the role they are playing in modern medical and environmental research.
Featuring stunning full-colour photographs, fun facts and current descriptions of over 130 species (including our brilliant blue national fungus, werewere kokako), Fungi of Aotearoa is packed full of information and advice that will delight armchair enthusiasts, backcountry explorers and budding experts alike.
Enter and explore the fascinating world of fungi.
In this practical and up-to-date guide, forager and fungus enthusiast Liv Sisson shares her top tips and takes the reader on a journey to discover the unique and diverse fungi Aotearoa has to offer.
Discover how to identify the best edible varieties, and how to cook with them, how these incredible organisms have shaped the world as we know it, and the role they are playing in modern medical and environmental research.
Featuring stunning full-colour photographs, fun facts and current descriptions of over 130 species (including our brilliant blue national fungus, werewere kokako), Fungi of Aotearoa is packed full of information and advice that will delight armchair enthusiasts, backcountry explorers and budding experts alike.
335 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2023
About the author
Liv Sisson
1 book3 followersOlivia 'Liv' Sisson is a forager & fungi enthusiast who has been enchanted by the minutiae of nature for as long as she can remember.
She was raised in Virginia, USA. Liv studied geology & arts before moving to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Her writing has appeared in The Spinoff, Cuisine, and Stuff.
Abridged from the About the Author on the back of her book.
She was raised in Virginia, USA. Liv studied geology & arts before moving to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Her writing has appeared in The Spinoff, Cuisine, and Stuff.
Abridged from the About the Author on the back of her book.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 18, 2026
Shortlisted for the 2024 Ockham Awards, Illustrated Non-Fiction
This is going to be a bit of a lazy review, as I am still sick.
Yesterday my husband took me for a drive. (& it did sort of feel like Grandma being taken for an outing!)
I was hoping to take photos of various fungi I had seen on my walks, but Tropical Cyclone Vaianu has been & gone & long fallen trees have been cleared away with the debris. This morning I wanted to go 'down the track,' to show some fungi growing wild near my home, but every time I try to put my nose outside of our front door, the rain starts again!
So I am going to show a couple of photos from this book to show the amazing variety of fungi in NZ
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
My examples wouldn't be so flashy, although in the past I have seen on my town's grass verges, toadstools that remind me (so much) of Enid Blyton's books.
& with the rainy, slightly steamy weather we are having at the moment, when I finally get out, I may find some exciting examples.
American born Liv Sisson is a Fungi Fanatic, who seems to like nothing more than finding, identifying & recording Aotearoa's fungi & slime mould population. Her enthusiasm is just contagious even when she cheerily tells you that;
Gulp.
This may stop my budding forager career in its tracks, especially since Liv didn't always make it clear which mushrooms are edible - possibly because some are edible but not tasty. She does say that only around 3% are known to be poisonous.
The mushroom that is responsible for about 90% of the deaths world wide is the appropriately named Death Cap.
& mushrooms can be used for a multitude of things - in traditional Māori medicine & in creating ta moko (tattoos)
& I loved the different names - for example, Earthstars & the Hotlips Puffball.
I will be paying a lot more attentions to my surroundings when I next go for a walk!
This is going to be a bit of a lazy review, as I am still sick.
Yesterday my husband took me for a drive. (& it did sort of feel like Grandma being taken for an outing!)
I was hoping to take photos of various fungi I had seen on my walks, but Tropical Cyclone Vaianu has been & gone & long fallen trees have been cleared away with the debris. This morning I wanted to go 'down the track,' to show some fungi growing wild near my home, but every time I try to put my nose outside of our front door, the rain starts again!
So I am going to show a couple of photos from this book to show the amazing variety of fungi in NZ
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
My examples wouldn't be so flashy, although in the past I have seen on my town's grass verges, toadstools that remind me (so much) of Enid Blyton's books.
& with the rainy, slightly steamy weather we are having at the moment, when I finally get out, I may find some exciting examples.
American born Liv Sisson is a Fungi Fanatic, who seems to like nothing more than finding, identifying & recording Aotearoa's fungi & slime mould population. Her enthusiasm is just contagious even when she cheerily tells you that;
Some [fungi] will liquify your liver
Gulp.
This may stop my budding forager career in its tracks, especially since Liv didn't always make it clear which mushrooms are edible - possibly because some are edible but not tasty. She does say that only around 3% are known to be poisonous.
The mushroom that is responsible for about 90% of the deaths world wide is the appropriately named Death Cap.
& mushrooms can be used for a multitude of things - in traditional Māori medicine & in creating ta moko (tattoos)
& I loved the different names - for example, Earthstars & the Hotlips Puffball.
I will be paying a lot more attentions to my surroundings when I next go for a walk!
June 18, 2024
Kinda fun different kind of book for me to dip into while reading other stuff. The photography is beautiful and very inspiring to see that women can have cute nails while mushroom foraging
May 11, 2023
Great reference book for foraging. Also all the science of fungi is well written and very interesting.
June 25, 2023
Incredibly eye opening to the world beneath our feet 🍄
June 16, 2025
Read in one sitting. Mind-blowing to learn about the encompassing power fungi currently has and could yet have on the planet. One of my favourite books of the year so far.
December 11, 2024
amazing
January 26, 2026
beautiful book. so well organised as a reference for foraging & thank fuck for an aotearoa-based guide that does service to Te Reo. Ленин — гриб!
December 16, 2024
Fascinating. Love the insight into this micro world and have a new appreciation for fungi. Some of the science went over my head but the Māori references were really interesting and the pictures were stunning. It would have been good to see more pictures of different stages in life but then that would have ballooned the book out I imagine. I wonder if there's an app for fungi hunting and foraging?
May 17, 2023
What an amazing book! Such great information around identifying and foraging for mushrooms and a comprehensive field guide. Bring on the foraging!
November 29, 2023
An excellent read!
April 4, 2026
Beautiful and interesting book, however many or most of the mushrooms that pop up in my back yard in the Bay of Plenty don't seem to be in this book for some reason? So I guess it's not a comprehensive guide, or if they are in the book, I can't identify/recognise them from the photos and description. I'm trained in botanical identification (never learned about mushrooms tho), so I do understand plant identification, and I didn't think mushroom ID would be too difficult for me to comprehend, but I just can't find my backyard mushrooms, unfortunately.
It's a very lovely and interesting coffee table book in my opinion... not detailed enough to be a field guide. It's also not clear enough about which mushrooms are edible vs inedible. For example, there's a section on edibles and then a section on NZ mushrooms. However it's not clear if some of the NZ are edible or not?
The pix of the beautiful, cheerfully happy author with her pretty fingernails made the pictures very fun. I laughed at the other review who didn't like the fingernails. I thought it was a cute, modern touch, tastefully photographed.
Hopefully the author will print an expanded edition/field guide sometime in the future. And if she does, I hope she will include a clear identification process for each mushroom. I have a wildflower ID guide which makes it so easy to narrow down which flower you're looking at, based on colour, petals, sepals, etc etc. A similar guide on NZ mushrooms would be invaluable 🙏 Ngā mihi
It's a very lovely and interesting coffee table book in my opinion... not detailed enough to be a field guide. It's also not clear enough about which mushrooms are edible vs inedible. For example, there's a section on edibles and then a section on NZ mushrooms. However it's not clear if some of the NZ are edible or not?
The pix of the beautiful, cheerfully happy author with her pretty fingernails made the pictures very fun. I laughed at the other review who didn't like the fingernails. I thought it was a cute, modern touch, tastefully photographed.
Hopefully the author will print an expanded edition/field guide sometime in the future. And if she does, I hope she will include a clear identification process for each mushroom. I have a wildflower ID guide which makes it so easy to narrow down which flower you're looking at, based on colour, petals, sepals, etc etc. A similar guide on NZ mushrooms would be invaluable 🙏 Ngā mihi
August 31, 2025
Loved the book!
It has a very facinating introduction to all things mushroom, with a very vibrant writing style (the author's voice really comes through). There were many absolutely gorgeous photographs throughout the book.
The last half of the book is more of a reference to help identification. I don't think it's meant to be read page to page. Good top-line information there to help with identification.
It has a very facinating introduction to all things mushroom, with a very vibrant writing style (the author's voice really comes through). There were many absolutely gorgeous photographs throughout the book.
The last half of the book is more of a reference to help identification. I don't think it's meant to be read page to page. Good top-line information there to help with identification.
September 11, 2023
A beautiful book packed with interesting facts and features and gorgeous photos and so much more. Very well researched and if you are interested in foraging for fungi in NZ this is a must have book for you! (Note: I did not read the kindle edition - but the gorgeous printed book)
August 9, 2023
Excellent read...full color plate after plate. The material is well researched, footnotes and references at the end of the book. Comprehensive...money well spent.
December 29, 2023
Gorgeous illustrations, and alerted us to what we could (and could not eat).
January 22, 2024
Wow! Readable, beautiful photographs.
July 14, 2024
Fun little read
January 9, 2025
A surprisingly interesting read about all things fungi in Aotearoa New Zealand - 4 stars ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️
February 15, 2025
gonna go out fungi hunting now
July 8, 2025
It's a good book to bring for outdoor recreation. Very insightful!!!
October 14, 2025
Brilliant in depth, gorgeous photos and beautifully written
December 30, 2025
I find this easy reading and interesting with good navigation. Thr layout is great and I love the illustrations. Most of all, I appreciate how fascinating this book is.
January 14, 2026
It’s really pretty and the writing is engaging. I would say that unless you are interested in this topic it’s probably not for you.
March 5, 2025
I was pleasantly surprised that this book is written in a creative interesting style, I was kind of expecting a boring textbook, which this is not, so I think the writing is really well done. However, I didn’t like the authors glorifying of mrna vaccines, nor the ‘fond’ media memories around the covid pandemic in NZ. For some reason the nail polish photos felt uncomfortable to me, I guess because in the photos there are such beautiful wonders of nature, the fungus, but then plasticy-acrylic-fake-looking nail polish holding it, strangely jarring and unnatural. It’s just not my cup of tea, but I did like that the author is approachable and lets her personal style and individuality shine through, and the book is inspiring, a wonderful collection of NZ fungi.
March 5, 2025
This is one book you can judge by it's cover!
The stunning photograph and fabulous font hint at what lies within.
The photos are nearly all half a page or larger, which combined with the books size (A5) make it a both a visual feast but also aids identification.
The writing style is easy-going, yet is still detailed and informative.
The earlier chapters provide lots of interesting and sometime surprising (for me at least) facts about fungi.
It's labelled as a field guide, but it's probably a bit too large/heavy. Probably best to keep it at home away from harm :O)
The stunning photograph and fabulous font hint at what lies within.
The photos are nearly all half a page or larger, which combined with the books size (A5) make it a both a visual feast but also aids identification.
The writing style is easy-going, yet is still detailed and informative.
The earlier chapters provide lots of interesting and sometime surprising (for me at least) facts about fungi.
It's labelled as a field guide, but it's probably a bit too large/heavy. Probably best to keep it at home away from harm :O)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews