My favorite mushroom books + Xylaria magnoliae, the magnolia cone flickering

In this video, I share mushroom book recommendations. Whether you’re a novice or an expert, good mushroom field guides are useful and valuable. I also share tips on using iNaturalist and authoritative websites to augment your mushroom ID materials. Finally, I discuss the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of generative AI on mushroom hunting, mycology, and foraging safety.

I also discuss a curious little flame-shaped mushroom called Xylaria magnoliae, common name magnolia cone flickering or simply the magnolia Xylaria. This roughened, black-and-grey little critter doesn’t look much like a “classic” mushroom at all, and it’s inedible. But because it only grows on magnolia cones, Xylaria magnoliae is easy to identify, and its branchy fruiting body is fun to photograph.

Next, I elaborate on the Xylaria genus and share info about Marrow of the Mountain, a film highlighting the research of Roo Vandergrift and Danny Newman. Roo and Danny are two mycologists who conducted field research in Reserva Los Cedros, a cloud forest in Ecuador. Los Cedros and its stunning fungal diversity is threatened by foreign mining interests, and Marrow of the Mountain and research paper linked below tell the compelling story of Roo's research and the fallout of resource extraction on the people and habitats of the Andean cloud forest.

https://marrowofthemountain.com/

Beginner mushroom book recommendation: The Complete Mushroom Hunter by Gary Lincoff. Low-cost, high-quality introduction to mushroom hunting, including top edibles and toxic mushrooms to avoid.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Mushr...

Regional guide recommendations: Mushrooms of the Carolinas, Mushrooms of Georgia by Michael Hopping and Dr. Alan and Arleen Bessette.
UNC Press: https://uncpress.org/
UGA Press: https://ugapress.org/

Other mushroom books and research:
Amanitas of North America by Jay Justice and Britt Bunyard
https://www.fungimag.com/

National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America, 2023. With special thanks to Jacob Pulk for authoring amazing, plain-English descriptions of hundreds of North American mushroom species.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/National-Audub...

Richer than gold: The fungal biodiversity of Los Cedros cloud forest: https://as-botanicalstudies.springero...