Books received by the Rijksherbarium library

The mycoflora of the northeastern part of North America is introduced in this overview of representatives of all groups of fungi, except microfungi. The area which is covered reaches from North Carolina in the south east to Kansas in the south west and Manitoba in the north west; the Atlantic Ocean is the eastern border. This book is the first attempt to make a unified survey of this area, many parts of which still await study. The book is very much an overview, as only 1500 species are described and keyed out, and of these 600 are described more fully and illustrated with colour photographs. Unfortunately, a ‘rationale’ for the choices made, either in the selection of the 1500, or the 600 species to treat more fully, is not given. Fungi have been divided into 22 major groups, represented by colour illustrations of representatives from each group, while the species descriptions constitute the main part of the book, with genera arranged in alphabetical order within groups. Briefer descriptions of the non-depicted species are included within the keys. The keys themselves are not dichotomous and as many as nine alternatives are given on occasion. The user may have to work through every alternative before concluding that a fungus is not keyed out at all. In some keys one of the first steps requires knowledge that is not visible on the fruit-body itself. Several species-rich genera, e.g. Cortinarius, Inocybe, and Russula, lack keys entirely and are represented by only a few of the more common and distinctive species. Photographs are arranged according to the major groups and follow the treatment of the group. While small (8 or 7 per page), the quality is in most cases good. Examples of the less felicitous ones are Squamanita umbonata and Strobilurus conigenoides.