'The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins' by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2017)

~ £15 new and available on https://t.co/pts9NQzosN

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'Mushroom Magick: A Visionary Field Guide' by Arik Roper (2009)

~ £10 new on https://t.co/nKyMe6k9ah

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First thing to say about 'Mushroom Miscellany' is... this is a great-looking book. A real feast for the eyes.

Stunning photos are interspersed with gorgeous vintage illustrations.

Like this: 'Champignons bons et mauvais'.

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The Parroquet Agaric* is "no use whatever" but "very pretty".

*Parrot Waxcap

https://t.co/1THPqG49qb

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Boletus laricinus* gets consigned to the Ugly Club.

* = Suillus viscidus?

https://t.co/zVZgj4DIkV

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Here's Hussey talking about the cycle of organic life, and the role of fungi in decomposition.

https://t.co/vzbHcKmy9U

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And for all you stick fans, here's Hussey sticking up for sticks:

"not the despicable things that many imagine."

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Other names used by Hussey are probably unfamiliar to the modern mycologist...

The Orcella https://t.co/WgkZwpQodG

Spatterdash Agaric https://t.co/xUzaFYbOfy

... but quite delightful.

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She rails too against the WRONG names.

"Judas's Ears. That is the correct name, not Jew's Ears, as commonly given..." https://t.co/8vqLWWTIo5

Mycologists now commonly refer to this species as Jelly Ear.

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For other species Hussey uses names which seem perhaps even more apt than the now-accepted English names...

Snake Agaric https://t.co/ZSbKgBklhX

Liver of the Oak https://t.co/psDKad52wv

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... or Polyporus (now Laetiporus) sulphureus. Familiar to many English-speaking folk nowadays as 'Chicken of the Woods'; but not back then.

"Nothing can be more beautiful than this Aurora-tinted fungus."

https://t.co/bpI7MQ8gHa

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In Britain, the 'English names' for many species have been settled upon relatively recently (see: https://t.co/swWf9fiMnN).

In Hussey's time, many species had no English, or 'vulgar' name. Take this, for example: Hydnum repandum... https://t.co/7TJvun0diZ

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Hussey also writes humorously on the challenges facing Mycologists in "the labyrinth of modern bewilderment".

For example here, on the genus Russula:
https://t.co/SCtJZMQ7cl

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returns Tues 7 July, 7:30pm (UK time).

Thought we could take a broader look at the fungal kingdom this month with 'Illustrations of British Mycology' by Anna Maria Hussey (1847).

You can read it in the , here: https://t.co/4BPXfDyWhd

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