Hundreds of full-color photographs with easy-to-understand text make this a perfect visual guide. Learn about more than 400 species of common wild mushrooms found in the Upper Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The species (from Morel Mushrooms to Shelf Mushrooms) are organized by shape, then by color, so you can identify them by their visual characteristics. Plus, with the Top Edibles and Top Toxics sections, you'll begin to learn which are the edible wild mushrooms. The information in the book, written by expert foragers Teresa Marrone and Kathy Yerich, is accessible to beginners but useful for even experienced mushroom seekers.
This is an utterly phenomenal resource that would be essential for any beginner/intermediate mycologist or wild food forager. It teaches characteristics upfront, then describes common/sought-after/edible mushrooms first using the characteristics, then finishes up with uncommon/toxic mushrooms to stay away from. All entries are accompanied by multiple photos.
Such a great beginners book for mushroom identification and the local focus isn’t overwhelming to be able to review! Will definitely be picking up a copy of my own.
Simple and well organized! I got to know mushrooms mostly from the incredible All That The Rain Promises And More, but the local focus and clear identification info in this one make it a much better guide to toss in your bag.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this book! I own five mushroom foraging books and "Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest" is easily the smallest book while being the one that helps me most in the field. This means it ALWAYS travels in my daypack. If you're like me and you're obsessed with mycology then you may prefer Michael Kuo's book "Mushrooms of the Midwest" since it leaves out confusing common names and gets straight down to scientific business. On the other hand, if you are new to mushroom hunting and just want to start eating those yummy fungi then this is the book you want!
A few guides that I have used for South Dakota & Minnesota: "Mushrooms Demystified" David Arora, "Mushrooms" Simon & Schuster, "Mushrooms of the Midwest" by Michael Kuo, and this one.
This book is so helpful. As a person who is just learning to see mushrooms in the woods it has led me to use my eyes in the whole new way. I love knowing whether something I find is edible or not. Pictures are clear and the writing is very accessible to a person new to the topic!
So helpful and small enough to carry out with me on hikes or even to have on me while walking around. It’s helped a lot as a beginner forager! Lots of very helpful info and it breaks it down so I can understand what the traits are and how to identify.