The Kingdom Fungi: The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens

by Steven L. Stephenson

The ubiquitous fungi are little known and vastly underappreciated. Yet, without them we wouldn’t have bread, alcohol, cheese, tofu, or the unique flavors of mushrooms, morels, and truffles. We can’t survive without fungi.

The Kingdom Fungi provides a comprehensive look at the biology, structure, and morphological diversity of these necessary organisms. It sheds light on their ecologically important roles in nature, their fascinating relationships with people, plants, and animals, and their practical applications in the manufacture of food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. The book includes information about “true” fungi, fungus-like creatures (slime molds and water molds), and a group of “composite” organisms (lichens) that are more than just fungi. Particular attention is given to examples of fungi that might be found in the home and encountered in nature.

The Kingdom Fungi is a useful introductory text for naturalists, mycologists, and anyone who wants to become more familiar with, and more appreciative of, the fascinating world of fungi.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Nature, Biology, Plants

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Last Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foxfire and Fairy-Rings:

No organism on Earth can exist in isolation, each must play it's part in a complex web of interacting life that we call the Biosphere. The most obvious groups are the Plants and Animals and they were long thought to be the main driving force behind our thriving ecosystem. But there are other players out there as well, single celled organisms that exist in a microscopic world, in numbers beyond counting. However there is a third group of complex, multicellular living things that bridge the gap between the Plants and Animals and these are the Fungi. Traditionally the Fungi have usually been placed within the study of Botany. But modern DNA research shows them to be genetically closer to Animals than they are to Plants. In fact the Fungi do share many vital characteristics with each of the other multicellular Kingdoms. In his 2010 book “The Kingdom Fungi" biologist Steven L Stephenson introduces us to this third group, without which the plants and animals that we are all so familiar with would probably not exist at all. Nobody knows for sure how many different species of fungus there are, science has documented over a 100,000 but some specialist think the total count my be much higher, anywhere from 1 to 5 million, with new species being discovered on a regular basis. For sheer diversity of form and function the fungi can match, or even surpass, anything in the plant or animal kingdoms. When we ask ourselves what the largest organisms are, most people would think of the blue whale or the giant sequoia but fungi may hold the record with individuals that cover acres of land and weigh in at many tons. Most of them, however, are of a more manageable size with many in the microscopic realm. Keep in mind that the mushrooms you see on your lawn are only "the tip of the iceberg" with the bulk of the organism being below ground in the form of root-like Hyphae. While accessible to the layperson this book can be very technical in some parts, with the use of scientific names for each species, their various body parts and different stages of life. Of course, some fungi do have "common names", but those can be confusing because of regional differences. The same name, used in the USA, can refer to a different species in Canada or Europe. So Dr Stephenson always indicates the scientific name along with the common name. After giving you a breakdown of the various groups of fungi by family and species the author goes into their different modes of reproduction and how they go about acquiring energy from other organisms and the environment. And It's the interaction between the 3 main kingdoms that I found to be the most fascinating: as parasite, symbiont, predator or prey the fungi play their role to perfection. A good example are the Lichens, a kind of partnership between fungi and algae. With thousands of species that exist all over the world Lichens play a major role in our environment. Also, the relationship between fungi and the higher plants can be very complex, even beyond imagining: The Spotted Coralroot Orchid ( Corallorhiza) and the Indian Pipe (Monotropa) will give you a glimps of just how far this relationship can go. There's even a fungi "predator" (Arthrobotrys) that prays on microscopic Nematode worms by ensnaring them in a ring of hyphae and digesting them from the inside out. Also covered are the Slime Molds and their kin, considered by some to be in a separate Kingdom of their own. As you can tell, I really liked this book, it gave me a fresh look at the natural world and some of its most unusual residents. I found Dr Stephenson writing to be informative and easy to follow, even in the technical sections. I did notice, however, that no mention was made of the many kinds of fungi that cause human disease. But, for me, this was not an important issue, Medical Mycology, while vital and interesting, might be somewhat beyond the scope of this particular book and would be better served under a separate cover. Additionally, this book is jam packed with stunningly beautiful illustrations giving the reader a detailed look at each of the species covered. I highly recommend this spectacular book!

Last Ranger

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a scholarly text on the biology of mushrooms, molds and lichens. I'm not quite sure who the target audience is supposed to be - the book is too technical for an introduction to the subject, but not enough detail is provided to make this an advanced text. The subject is interesting and the multitude of colour photographs delightful to look at, but a few additional schematic diagrams to explain certain concepts would have been helpful.

OTHER BOOKS:

-Mushrooms: A Natural and Cultural History by Nicholas P. Money
-The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization by Nicholas P. Money
-March of the Microbes: Sighting the Unseen by John L. Ingraham

[Steve Rochford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curiosity

Why I ask questions like “just what is a mushroom, really?” is unknown to me, but it led me to this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the world of fungi, to which mushrooms are only a very small part.

It is well written, scientific but not boring, and choc full of interesting facts.

What fungi do and are responsible for today, and a brief history of their history on Earth as explained through science performed on the fossil record, this book has it all.

[Ted Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

super sweet runthrough of fungi and closely related organisms. Sweet book for those looking to continue mushroom learning and trying to avoid weewoo wishy washy things typically associated with mushrooms and popular science, terrence makenna and paul stamets are dead 2 me long live steven stephenson

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in-depth exploration of Fungi.

I'm not sure who this book was intended for--it seems to have the technical detail of a textbook but without any diagrams or basic introduction of parts and terms. A good starting point, but there may be even better ones out there.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some really good material in here and it truly helped to increase my interest in Fungi, but I think it suffers from both providing both too much and too little information. It gives enough to scare away a large segment of people, but not enough to satisfy the remaining group of readers.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kingdom Fungi seems to suffer from an identity crisis. On one hand, it uses a LOT of technical jargon, and it is arranged phylogenetically in the same way most mycology textbooks are. On the other hand, every topic is examined very superficially, and it seems directed to spur the interest of lay readers.

That said, however, I got a decent amount out of the book. I really appreciate that the book is organized phylogenetically rather than by morphology, and that he uses up-to-date phylogenetic speculations on fungal cladistics. It makes me feel more comfortable reviewing and learning up-to-date stuff than older, wackier material. I appreciate the review and the update, and I got several new facts out of the book. For example:
I finally understand slime mold life cycles well.
Lungworm nematodes can hitch rides on Pilobolus sporangia.
75% of the photobionts in lichens are in the genus Trebouxia.
Some lichens have normal algae and cyanobacteria (cyanobacteria include Nostoc, and often fix Nitrogen).
There are endophytic fungi that live inside plants and help them produce secondary metabolites that deter predation.
There are fossils of essentially modern nematophagous fungi in amber from 100 mya. There is also a slime mold preserved in amber.
The same myxomycete species occupy a given niche worldwide.

So that's all valuable, and it's always fun to read about fungi, but I'm not really sure what Stephenson was trying to accomplish with this one, since most of it would go completely over the head of anyone not intimately involved with fungal morphology.

[Jane Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had far more biological jargon in it than I'd wanted and too little about the less scientific aspects of fungi. I borrowed it chiefly because I'm fascinated by lichens, and I did learn something about them. One major criticism is that the illustrations, while beautiful, are all grouped together in two blocks of pages, and the reader doesn't want to have to skip backwards and forwards between them and the text.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in this book because it seemed like a good in-depth nonfiction book... Certainly in-depth but it is so dry, and the writing style is convoluted. Things were not explained clearly enough. It was hard to extract value from the book. Maybe someone actually in the field of mycology could understand this book better, but the information seems like beginner level stuff, so I'm confused about who is supposed to be the target market of this book.

[Christopher Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only are fungi stranger than you image, they are stranger than you can imagine. This book is a tour-de-force of the Kingdom Fungi. Did you know that a type of fungi has an eye? And the Humungous Fungus covers an area of 3.5 sq mi.?

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and Informative Read

This in depth description of the cellular biology and ecology of fungi is livened up with interesting descriptions of fungi-human interactions, history, and evolution.