Waxcap Mushrooms of Eastern North America:
A Book Review
Waxcap Mushrooms of Eastern North America
Alan E. Bessette, William C. Roody, Walter E. Sturgeon and Arlene R. Bessette
Hardcover: 192 pages, 167 color and 3 black and white illustrations
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN-9780815632689
Good news for mycophiles! There’s a glossy new field guide to wax cap mushrooms of eastern North America, written by a veritable “Who’s Who” of eastern mycologists: Alan and Arlene Bessette, Bill Roody and Walt Sturgeon. The Bessettes are well known authors of a number of mushroom related books and field guides, most recently the excellent guides to “Milk Mushrooms of North America,” as well as “Boletes of North America.” Roody is the author of the fine regional field guide, “Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians” and Sturgeon is a tireless field mycologist, teacher, taxonomist and fine photographer, as well as the author of numerous mycological articles.
Together they have created a colorful and taxonomically detailed book geared to the wax caps of eastern North America, a subject about which they have a wealth of field experience. The beautiful photographs displayed in this book were primarily provided by the authors themselves, as well as from a select group of North American mushroom photographers, including Renée LeBeuf and John Plischke III.
Species descriptions, listed alphabetically by genus, were derived from original descriptions then modified by the four authors to reflect taxonomic and range changes as well as their own extensive field experience. Species within the former genus Camarophyllus have now been combined into both Hygrocybe and Hygrophorus, although thankfully they are listed as Camarophyllus in the index as well as being grouped together in the beginning of the photo section. Some taxonomic concepts die hard!
What is dramatically different about this volume, compared to the Bessettes’ recent books on milk mushrooms and boletes, is that this field guide lacks keys. This will please some and distress others. But keys are an awful lot of work to build, and sometimes, despite the best of intentions, they can still end up difficult to use. After all, who amongst us hasn’t taken a wrong and frustrating turn in a dichotomous key?
So, the authors chose not to include taxonomic keys in this volume, but they are not wholly lacking in mercy; they grouped the photos first by genus (Hygrocybe and Hygrophorus) and then by color, so after determining that one has a wax cap in hand, you can then match it to a color section, find a name and then go to the descriptions, which are listed alphabetically, to see if the details match up. This also means that, unlike in other, recent Bessette field guides, the photos are not in alphabetical order, but must be cross-referenced by first going to the species description and finding the photo page number. Color being a variable rather than a constant, this of course is an imperfect taxonomic method, but no less trouble than an imperfect key. I look forward to trying out the color matching model for myself on my next trip to the east coast. In fact, being primarily a visually oriented person, this may be an improvement over keys for me, but the actual field testing of this book will have to wait.
Both rare and commonplace wax cap species are illustrated, but some of the species featured here are hardly restricted to just eastern North America. Quite a few of the waxy caps occur on both sides of the continental divide, like Hygrophorus chrysodon, H. agathosmus, H. bakerensis and H. eburneus, and Hygrocybes like H. hypothejus, H. calyptriformis, H. psittacina and H. punicea, making this volume directly useful for us western mushroomers, in addition to being a slender and portable vacation travel mushroom guide.
I was also pleased to note that this book will provide readers with some much needed western as well as eastern taxonomic benefits. One group of very similar Hygrophorus species that I and others have struggled with here in the west are apparently also eastern species: the reddish capped Hygrophorus purpurascens, H. russula, H. erubescens and H. capreolarius. I have often argued the taxonomic particulars of these reddish Hygrophorus, sometimes without clear resolution. This book, for the first time anywhere, shows detailed color photos of all of these species grouped together, backed with extensive species descriptions. So bring ‘em on! This book is going to (hopefully) settle a lot of future arguments.
I enjoyed seeing photographs of some of the rare and beautiful Hygrophorus species unique to the east, such as the lovely yellow, thickly slime-coated Hygrophorus laurae , H. chrysaspis with its striking, widely spaced gills, the uncommon although apparently not so uncommonly photographed Hygrophorus glutinosus, and the distinctive Hygrophorus inocybiformis, with an Inocybe-like fibrillose veil.
Many colorful Hygrocybe species are also depicted, from the color-changing chameleons (Hygrocybe chamaeleon to H. psittacina) to the sometimes brilliantly red Hygrocybe andersonii of southeastern sand dunes, suspected of being mycorrhizal with Florida Rosemary. The mushroom formerly known as Camarophyllus pratensis is now called Hygrocybe pratensis and is shown in both its white and orange forms. Other interesting former Camarophyllus species depicted are the lovely blue Hygrocybe lacmus and the frosted capped Hygrocybe canescens.
I like that the authors define the derivations of most latin binomials; I suspect Bill Roody’s hand in this! I like that they provide a brief introduction to waxy cap characters, getting everyone onto the same page, so to speak, as well as providing a brief taxonomic history of Hygrophoraceae in North America. I was amused that the edibility of waxy caps was discussed with some seriousness, since they are so seldom eaten here, but apparently that is not the case in Europe. I was pleased to see that the Eastern and Western sides of our nation have so many species in common, at least on paper!
I was annoyed by the loss of the genus Camarophyllus, but that was certainly not the fault of the authors. I was unsettled by the photographs of Hygrocybe singeri, a common western species, shown in redwood duff, hardly an eastern habitat. When I asked Walt Sturgeon about it, he said that this species had only been found once in the east that he knew of, and then only as a name on a list! Perhaps it would have been better left out.
Those very minor issues aside, this is a fine compendium of the Hygrophoraceae of Eastern North America and should also prove useful to us western mushroomers. If you can afford the hardcover list price ($95), be the first on your block (or in your local mushroom club) to own a copy of this richly illustrated and comprehensive field guide. Otherwise, wait for the paperback version that is sure to follow. “Waxcap Mushrooms of Eastern North America” will make a fine addition to your mycological library.
Debbie Viess © 2012
