Showing 1–12 of 28 results
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Astounding Mushrooms
Artist/Author: Bellocq, Alain (Author), Jaroslav Malý (Illustrator)$32.00 Add to cartAstounding Mushrooms features full-colour photographs of more than 200 mushroom species in their wild habitat. The close-up images reveal every size of growth, every shade of color, every shadow of silhouette, and every detail of texture. Chapter text sheds light on this unique living species, neither animal nor plant. Concise captions identify the mushrooms and provide further description of their biology. As Astounding Mushrooms reveals, mushrooms are astonishingly diverse! Shapes include buttons, nests, fans, feet, clubs, hooves, trumpets, mesh, tentacles, stars, tubes, and spines. Textures are smooth, shiny or pimpled. They can be dry or wet, edible or deadly. Nuanced colors and blushes include yellows, reds, blues, and greens. They may be speckled, stinky, slimy, hairy, or fuzzy. Some wear a hat, a “skirt”, or can even move. Astounding Mushrooms invites readers into the extraordinary fungi universe.
The author Alain Bellocq is a mycologist specializing in the study of the Inocybe genre, who trained with Marcel Bon, a mycologist of worldwide reputation. He is president of the Association Mycologique de l’Ouest de la France and secretary of the L’Observatoire Mycologique.
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Teaming with Fungi: The Organic Grower’s Guide to Mycorrhizae
Artist/Author: Lowenfels, Jeff$35.00 Add to cartTeaming with Fungi is the first book to accessibly explain the essential symbiotic relationship between soil-dwelling mycorrhizal fungi and plants. Almost every plant in a garden forms a relationship with fungi, and many plants would not exist without their fungal partners. By better understanding the relationship, gardeners can take advantage of the benefits of fungi, which include an increased uptake in nutrients, resistance to drought, earlier fruiting, and more. Learn how the fungi interact with plants, how to grow their own, and how best to employ them in the home garden.
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Lichens of Rainforest in Tasmania and South-Eastern Australia
Artist/Author: Kantvilas, G. & S.J. Jarman$45.00 Add to cartThe cool temperate rainforests of the Southern Hemisphere are noteworthy for the remarkable diversity and luxuriance of their lichen floras, and Tasmania is endowed with a rich and complex array of lichen species.
This book provides an insight into this realm of beautiful & unusual plants, frequently loverlooked but so rich in colour and form. Only the most conspicuous species, termed macrolichens, are dealt with here. More than 200 species have been recorded in Tasmania’s rainforest, and 127 are illustrated in this volume. Many also occur in the cool temperate rainforests of south-eastern Australia or New Zealand.
The book, beautifully illustrated in colour, provides introductory chapters on the nature of lichens, the composition of the lichen flora in Tasmania and the distribution and ecology of lichens in rainforests. With some experience and familiarity, many of the macrolichen species can be identified with the naked eye or with the aid of a hand lens. The photographic section should thus provide a ready introduction for the amateur naturalist, botanist or bushwalker. For the more determined user, or specialist, an identification key, accompanied by a glossary of technical terms, is also provided.
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Tasmanian Lichens: Identification, Distribution and Conservation Status: I. Parmeliaceae
Artist/Author: Kantvilas, G., S.J. Jarman & J.A. Elix$45.00 Add to cartThis volume is the first in a series that collates the available floristic, distributional and ecological data on the Tasmanian lichen flora. It deals with the family Parmeliaceae, the most diverse family of Tasmanian lichens, which accounts for more than 15% of the total lichen flora and a very significant proportion of the macrolichens. It is proposed to deal with other families and genera as resources become available.
The work presented provides background information on the Parmeliaceae; an authoritative, strictly specimen-based census of the family in Tasmania; identification keys to genera and species; diagnostic descriptive notes on the recognition of each species, its habitat and chemical composition; summaries of global distribution; maps of the known Tasmanian distribution of each species; assigned or provisional conservation status categories; and a list of names of Parmeliaceae previously recorded but not currently accepted for Tasmania. It is noteworthy that of the 148 taxa recorded here for Tasmania, 37 are new species or new records not included in the previous comprehensive treatment of the family presented in 1994
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Taming the Truffle: The History, Lore, and Science of the Ultimate Mushroom
Artist/Author: Hall, Ian R, Gordon Brown and Alessandra Zambonelli$50.00 Add to cartWhether the world’s best truffles are found in Piedmont or Perigord inspires impassioned debate, but the effects of dwindling supply and insatiable demand for the elusive, ultimate mushroom are unquestionable: prices through the roof, intrigue and deception, and ever more intensive efforts to cultivate. The secrets of when, how, and where to collect truffles have been passed from generation to generation since ancient times, but artificial cultivation remains the holy grail. Here in the most comprehensive practical treatment of the gastronomic treasure to date, the art and science of the high-stakes pursuit come together. Their enthusiasm and expertise leavened with wry humor, the authors explore the newest techniques; they describe the commercial species in detail along with their host plants, natural habitats, cultivation and maintenance, pests and diseases, and harvesting with pigs, dogs, truffle flies, and even the electronic nose. Pursuit of the fungus that costs more than gold is not for the faint of heart nor for those in a hurry, as under ideal conditions, truffle production in artificial truffieres can begin after three years but results may not be seen until a decade after planting, and maximum yields not for another decade still. So there is time to read and prepare, and no better source than this one.
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The Allure of Fungi
Artist/Author: Pouliot, Alison$50.00 Add to cartAn interdisciplinary exploration of fungi, showcasing stunning photographs.
Although relatively little known, fungi provide the links between the terrestrial organisms and ecosystems that underpin our functioning planet. -
Fungi of Australia: Inocybaceae
Artist/Author: Matheny, P Brandon, Neale L Bougher$240.00 Add to cartAn illustrated account of 137 species of this family of gilled fungi, including 101 new to science.
The family Inocybaceae are a diverse cosmopolitan group of gilled fungi. Until now, only a small number of species had been described from Australia, but with this major revision a total of 137 species are recognised, of which 101 are new to science. Ninety per cent of these species (121 of the 137) are found only in Australia. -
A Field Guide to Tasmanian Fungi (Second Edition)
Artist/Author: Gates, Genevieve, David Ratkowsky$47.00 Add to cartA comprehensive guide relevant to the whole of southern Australia, with over 600 species of fungi superbly illustrated and described. -
Australian Subtropical Fungi
Artist/Author: McMullan-Fisher, Sapphire, Patrick Leonard, Frances Guard$39.00 Add to cartA field guide to some of the interesting and unusual fungi of the Australian subtropics.
The guide covers 115 species, with illustrations and descriptions of each. Many of the species covered appear for the first time in a field guide.This book is aimed at field naturalists wanting to develop an interest in the fungi of the Australian subtropics. It contains a simple morphological key to the main groups of fungi. The fungi of the Australian subtropics are a very diverse and little studied group of organisms, many of which appear to be unique to the region.
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Admiring the fungi of Lower Eyre Peninsula: a preliminary guide to the large fungi of the region.
Artist/Author: Saunders, Brian.$25.00 Add to cartThis guide both helps to identify the fungi of the Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and to demonstrate aspects of their diversity. The excellent introduction includes information on fungi biology, habitats, distribution and more. Although specific in its geographic coverage this book will be of interest to fungi enthusiasts.
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A Guide to the Common Fungi of Coastal New South Wales
Artist/Author: Moore, Skye and Pam O'Sullivan.$20.00 Add to cartFungi play an incredibly important role in all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They aid decomposition and nutrient cycling, help to create and stabilise soils, form relationships with plant roots that are essential for the survival of plants, and provide habitat and a food resource for a multitude of other organisms.
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Where the Slime Mould Creeps: The Fascinating World of Myxomycetes
Artist/Author: Lloyd, Sarah.$30.00 Add to cartSlime moulds are not slimy, nor do they look like mould; in fact, most are exquisite. Fuligo septica is an exception. This common cosmopolitan species forms amorphous yellowish blobs known variously throughout the world as ‘dog’s vomit slime’, ‘moon shit’, ‘demon droppings’ or ‘snake poo’.
Plasmodial or acellular slime moulds also known as Myxomycetes are mysterious and ubiquitous, yet few people know they exist.
One reason for this is their size. Their reproductive structures are so small that they are easily overlooked by all but a dedicated few prepared to search trees, logs, stumps and leaf litter with magnifying lens and torch.
Naturalist, writer and photographer Sarah Lloyd is perfectly located to search for myxomycetes in the tall wet eucalypt forest that surrounds her home in northern Tasmania. Her photographs of over sixty species capture the colour and variety in their miniature spore-bearing ‘fruits’. She is also ideally situated to document over hours and days some common but rarely seen events including actively feeding plasmodia (one of the two animal-like stages of a myxomycete) and the transformation of plasmodia to reproductive structures.
In the 19th century three type specimens of myxomycetes, the original specimens used by an author to describe a new species were collected from Tasmania. And even though cool temperate forests are known to be rich in myxomycetes and there have been occasional collecting trips to this remote corner of the world, it has taken a local naturalist to discover these riches and to share her passion for these ecologically important organisms.
