Mushrooms of the Georgia Piedmont (the book)

If you thought we had a lot of native plants, wait until you hear how many mushrooms and fungi we have! I love to find new mushrooms as I explore the natural areas looking at flowers; they are always a fun surprise. However, I’m often puzzled as to which ones they might be, and I certainly am never confident enough to consider eating one. A new regional book is now available to help us all learn more: it is Mushrooms of the Georgia Piedmont & Southern Appalachians by Mary Woehrel and William Light.

The hardcover book is thick and quite detailed. The first sixty pages are devoted to a thorough, and often illustrated, introduction to a more than basic understanding of what mushrooms and fungi are, where they fit into scientific classification, some important information on toxins and poisonous mushrooms, a nice overview of medicinal properties, and tips on collecting and identifying mushrooms in the wild. 

This book is a solid reference for any level of enthusiast. Of course, it wouldn’t be a modern book without including as references some of the better online sources available.

Morel mushroom

Coral mushroom

The rest of the book encompasses almost 600 pages of species accounts, organized by group. As thick as this book is, the authors acknowledge that it doesn’t cover all of the several thousand species found in this area. The familiar ones are there: morels, puffballs, stinkhorns, and chanterelles to name a few. The ones new to me had exciting names: carbonaceous fungi, Earth tongues, hydnoids, and corticoids (cedar-apple rust is an example of a corticoid).

Cauliflower mushroom (looks like a brain!)

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)

The photos are good but the words far outweigh the pictures. Each species featured has descriptive information on the cap, flesh, gills, stipe, spore print, chemical staining, microscopic details, occurrence, edibility, and comments that can run half a page! I’ve seen plant reference books with less detail per species.

Amanita mushroom (bulbous base)

Russula mushroom (gills are important
identifiers on mushrooms)

I’ve used the book to identify fungi that I’ve seen before and to identify something new (witches butter and devil's urn).  It’s a lot to read at once, but I look forward to digesting a group at a time to better understand this incredible category of the natural world. If you’re in the Piedmont ecoregion, you might consider investing in this excellent reference book.

Devil's urn fungi grow adjacent to a fallen branch in my woods