Anybody know any good - no - "the best" books on identifying mushrooms?

Question

My daughter who is a "nature nut" just called to say she found a huge patch of Morel mushrooms while she was hunting for turkey this morning. She's all excited, I'm all stressed out! She wants me to look for "good mushroom book" for her. Any suggestions? (Any prayers would be greatly appreciated too... she's my only daughter)

Answer 1

I second the audubon field guide.

Try not to worry about the morels. They're pretty distinctive, nothing looks like a morel except a morel. There is a member of the morchella genus that you're not supposed to eat, sometimes people call them false morels. I seem to be able to eat them, but some people get sick from them.

Worst case scenario with all but a very few species of mushrooms is that you suddenly un-eat them. Amanitas will kill you (all but one kind which is edible). Most people who get poisoned severely by mushrooms get it from an amanita species. Especially immigrants from southeast asia, because there are no amanitas there (so I'm told), but there is an edible mushroom that looks just like them, so mistakes get made.

Answer 2

Audubon book of mushrooms. It is very possible she has found some morels.  Just be certain that is what they are because mistaking a mushroom species can be very dangerous if eating them is the goal. I would not recommend trying to identify mushrooms by a book if you are going to eat them. I would Highly recommend  you have someone with you that KNOWS what type of mushroom it is.