Autumn: oil on canvas (1573) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
{Lauros/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library (BAL)}
I dedicate this book to Chloe, my ancient Jack Russell. Much of the book was planned during our daily walks together. I am also indebted to my nieces Charlotte and Sarah for their valuable comments and corrections at the manuscript stage. Finally thanks to my wife Jean and daughter Bryony for putting up with me while I was writing the book and good luck to my son Martin who sensibly moved out before I started.
Contents
1 No Ceps Please, We’re British
8 The Names they are a-Changing
10 Getting to the Root of the Matter
16 Cultivating and Collecting Exotics
18 Of Ballerinas and Ancient Oaks
19 A Code of Conduct for Mushroom Hunters
20 Fungi that Glow in the Dark
23 Boring Beetles and the Elm Decline
38 Poetry, Prose, Pop and Pictures
Boletus edulis (early 19th century) by Paul Louis Oudart
(Archives Charmet/BAL)
In the autumn of 1981 I taught my first residential weekend course on Mushrooms and Toadstools. On the Friday evening the small group of participants joined me for a preprandial drink. It was not long before I discovered that each of them had a similar tale to tell. The stories all included accounts of the jaw-dropping response of family and colleagues when told of the reason for their weekend away. In those days very few shops stocked anything other than white cultivated mushrooms which were usually neatly displayed in blue cardboard punnets. Field and other ‘wild’ mushrooms were