This book is a comprehensive field guide to the mushrooms of the southeastern United States. Although it will stand on its own, it is intended to compliment and serve as a companion to Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, also published by Syracuse University Press. Together these volumes form a foundation and reference for identifying mushrooms found in eastern North America from Canada to the subtropics of Florida and Texas.
This book features more than 450 species that are fully described and illustrated with photographs, many for the first time in color. The photographs were selected for high-quality color fidelity and documentary merit, and reflect some of the aesthetic appeal of our subject. The number of species described and illustrated in color is substantially more than has previously appeared in any other single work devoted to the mushrooms of the southeastern United States. Cross referencing to additional species occuring in the region that are illustrated in
Mushrooms of Northeastern North America is provided. Although this book contains the necessary detail required by advanced students and professional mycologists, it emphasizes identification based primarily on macroscopic field characters for easier use by a general audience. Each illustrated species is accompanied by a detailed description of macroscopic and microscopic features based on the concepts of their original authors.
Alan E. Bessette is a professional mycologist and professor of biology at Utica College of Syracuse University. He has published numerous professional papers in the field of mycology and authored eighteen books, including Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, Mushrooms of the Adirondacks, and Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America.
William C. Roody is a mycologist and field biologist with the Wildlife Diversity Program at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Author of the Preliminary Checklist of Macrofungi and Myxomycetes of West Virginia, North American Boletes--A Guide to the Fleshy Pored Mushrooms, and Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians, he frequently lectures on various aspects of mycology and has taught many mushroom-identification workshops.
Arleen R. Bessette is a mycologist and botanical photographer who has been collecting and studying wild mushrooms for many years. She has authored ten books, including Mushrooms of North America in Color, and The Rainbow Beneath My Feet: A Mushroom Dyer's Field Guide.
Dail L. Dunaway is a mycologist and botanical photographer who has been studying fungi for many years. A native of Mississippi, Dail has extensive knowledge of the mushroom flora of the southeastern United States and has collected and described many new species from this region. His excellent photographs have been included in several mycological publications.
