Alaska's Mushrooms: A Wide-Ranging Guide - Paperback

by Gary A. Laursen (Author), Neil McArthur (Author)

For the seriously dedicated as well as the merely curious 'shroomer, Alaska's Mushrooms is a wide-ranging guide to the fungi of the Last Frontier.

The book, featuring detailed descriptions of 114 species, includes: color photographs; family and common names; genus and species; striking field characters; both a macro- & micro-description; habitat and role; edibility, taste, and odor; look-alikes, and comments. This comprehensive collection also provides:

• information on mushroom seasons and habitats
• hints for collecting mushrooms for food and study
• tips on how to tell the real mushrooms from their "imposters"
• directions for making spore prints (an essential test for identifying mushrooms)
• hundreds of black-and-white line drawings
• a section listing all poisonous mushrooms by toxin groups
• a list of frequently asked questions
• a range map of Alaska's biogeographic zones

Alaska's Mushrooms provides authoritative natural history, informative color photographs, and black-and-white line drawings for clear identification, and lively notes from the field. It's a must-have for anyone who has a passion for hunting mushrooms.

Author Biography

Dr. Gary A. Laursen is an adjunct Research Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, was instrumental in maintaining the state's largest and longest-running outreach program for secondary STEM research, now directs the UAF Honors Program, and faculty advises Golden Key. He has written and published over 375 pieces while also serving twenty years as a high school teacher concomitant with his thirty-five years of university instruction and research. He is the coauthor of the book Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams: Fungi, Lichenicolous Fungi, Lichenized Fungi, Slime Molds, Mosses, and Liverworts, University of Alaska Press, (2009).

Neil McArthur grew up in Scotland, Quebec, and western New York, earned a B.Sc. in forestry from Syracuse in 1962, and ran away to Alaska. He worked as naturalist, forester, game biologist, cartographer, greenhouseman, carpenter, and museum facility manager. Neil helped his wife, Harriette Parker, author the 1994 Alaska's Mushrooms, and provided most of its photos.