Mushrooms and Toadstools. A Study of the Activities of Fungi. Collins New Natrualist Series

Hardback. Previous owners name and date to inside cover. Foxing to top edge. Slight wear to bottom corner. Britain's neglect of fungi as table delicacies has perhaps been responsible for our surprising ignorance of the natural history of such fascinating plants. Puff-balls, more than a foot in diameter; moulds in jam-pots; dry rot; truffkles; these are examples of the wide range of the Phylyum, comprising some 100,000 species. Many are of economic importance - for example, the rusts that attack wheat and other crops, and the yeasts which ferment beer - and there are other of great biological interest, such as the mycorrhiza fungi which life in association with the roots of forest trees, orchids and other plants, and help them to absorb food from the soil. Penicillin, of course, has become a household word, and this book's final chapter on the industry is one of the best short accounts of the subject yet written. One of the special features of this book is the wealth of historical allusion to fungi extracted from old books, In fairy rings, science and superstition have gone hand in hand to produce a lively story of alternating surmise and research - and even today a full and final explanation of these mysterious rings has not yet been made. Contents: Editor's preface. Author's preface. General Introduction. Names. History. Habitats. Poisonour and Edible Fungi: I. Poisonous and Edible Fungi: II. Mushroom Growing. Growth. Spore Production and Spore Characters. Sex. Fairy Rings. Rhizomorphis and Sclerotia. Ergot and Cordyceps. Luminosity. Puff-Balls and Earth-Stars. Stink-Horns and other Phalloids. Grasslands, Marshes and Sand-Dunes. Mycorrhiza and Other Fungal Associations. Woodlands. Dry Rot. Bird's Nest Fungi and Other Gasteromycetes. Truffles. Penicillian. Bibliography. Index. Illustrated with Plates in colour and Plates in black and white. 306 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions ,and all types of Academic Literature.).…