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British and Irish Basidiomycetes
Book reviews
247
The book concludes with two chapters that appear to be somewhat unrelated to the book’s title. The application of PCR to mycology (M. Lu¨beck & P. S. Lu¨beck) and fungal protoplast technology (M. V. Chitnis & M. V. Deshpande). The first of these has relevance to identifying the diversity of fungi, especially where morphological taxonomy is difficult. The role of these methods in fungal identification for pharmaceutical, environmental health or other applications is not discussed and is where it is of great importance. I have great difficulty in understanding how the final chapter relates to the title of the book at all. However, this does not detract from the quality of the chapter, just its relevance here. In general, I enjoyed reading this book and will find it a very useful source of information for my teaching. However, I feel there have been some lost opportunities here to relate the subject matter of each of these chapters to the sub title of the book. More emphasis on the links to the human dimension throughout would have certainly added value to the book. I recommend that this book be placed in libraries of higher education establishments and believe it will be of use to a number of us who teach general mycology courses. It has led me into some new directions. John Dighton Division of Pinelands Research, Rutgers University, P.O. Box 206, Lisbon, NJ 08064, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2005.11.004
British and Irish Basidiomycetes Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota, N.W. Legon, A. Henrici, (with PJ Roberts, BM Spooner, R Watling), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2005, ISBN 1 84246 121 4, Pp. xviiþ517. Price: £ 29. I believe that this is the first time an authoritative checklist covering all the basidiomycete fungi in Great Britain and Ireland has been compiled into one work since Massee (189293). Although separate major works on particular groups have been prepared, most are dated and a critical overall checklist was an urgent need. The production of this work has been an immense effort, endeavouring to assess the current application and status of some 16 500 species group names used in the literature. That the final list accepts around 3670 species and infraspecific taxa and has 79 pages of excluded names (with reasons) gives an indication of the scale of the work. But this is much more than a list of names. The genera are treated alphabetically within classes, with
places of original publication, systematic placement by order and family, synonyms, and type species. Species entries also have full bibliographic details, synonyms, indications of the countries from which they are known and frequency in each, notes on habitat, references to key literature and illustrations, and a short final note. I was pleased to see that the decision not to include the names of sanctioning authors in author citations had been taken as this only obfuscates and confuses most users of names, but I would have included that information in the synonym lists as it is in some cases critical to understand why a particular name has been adopted. The classification used mainly follows Hawksworth et al. (1995), as the subsequent edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi ‘‘partially incorporates recent revisions based on molecular data’’. While I recognize much is yet to be settled, at least indications of suggested other placements would have been valuable. I was especially frustrated in not seeing the current and now internationally adopted generic system for the coprinoid fungi accepted, and surprised to find Xerocomus still hiding in Boletus. There is an immensely valuable index arranged by epithet concluding the work. The price is exceedingly modest, but for an A4 work which will receive extensive use a hardbound version would have been preferable, and running dictionary-style page headings would have facilitated rapid retrieval of information. But it easy to be wise after the event, and, as one of the authors of the companion volume on ascomycetes (Cannon et al. 1985), I am only too aware of the problems in producing such works, and the decisions that have to be continually made as names are assessed. The realization of this mammoth work was only made possible through funding from eight bodies, the guidance of a Project Steering Committee, and critical specialist inputs from key ‘‘amateur’’ mycologists. This is a huge achievement that will be the basis of recording and conservation work of basidiomycete fungi in these islands for the foreseeable future and a standard reference work for individual and not just library ownership. All involved deserve to be commended.
Cannon PF , Hawksworth DL , Sherwood-Pike MA , 1985. The British Ascomycotina: an Annotated Checklist. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Slough. Hawksworth DL , Kirk PK , Sutton BC , Pegler DN , 1995. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi, 8th edn. CAB International, Wallingford. Massee G , 1892-93. British Fungus Flora, 3 vols. Bell, London.
David L. Hawksworth The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia La Maliciosa, Mataelpino, ES-28492 Madrid, Spain E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2006.01.002
247
The book concludes with two chapters that appear to be somewhat unrelated to the book’s title. The application of PCR to mycology (M. Lu¨beck & P. S. Lu¨beck) and fungal protoplast technology (M. V. Chitnis & M. V. Deshpande). The first of these has relevance to identifying the diversity of fungi, especially where morphological taxonomy is difficult. The role of these methods in fungal identification for pharmaceutical, environmental health or other applications is not discussed and is where it is of great importance. I have great difficulty in understanding how the final chapter relates to the title of the book at all. However, this does not detract from the quality of the chapter, just its relevance here. In general, I enjoyed reading this book and will find it a very useful source of information for my teaching. However, I feel there have been some lost opportunities here to relate the subject matter of each of these chapters to the sub title of the book. More emphasis on the links to the human dimension throughout would have certainly added value to the book. I recommend that this book be placed in libraries of higher education establishments and believe it will be of use to a number of us who teach general mycology courses. It has led me into some new directions. John Dighton Division of Pinelands Research, Rutgers University, P.O. Box 206, Lisbon, NJ 08064, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2005.11.004
British and Irish Basidiomycetes Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota, N.W. Legon, A. Henrici, (with PJ Roberts, BM Spooner, R Watling), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2005, ISBN 1 84246 121 4, Pp. xviiþ517. Price: £ 29. I believe that this is the first time an authoritative checklist covering all the basidiomycete fungi in Great Britain and Ireland has been compiled into one work since Massee (189293). Although separate major works on particular groups have been prepared, most are dated and a critical overall checklist was an urgent need. The production of this work has been an immense effort, endeavouring to assess the current application and status of some 16 500 species group names used in the literature. That the final list accepts around 3670 species and infraspecific taxa and has 79 pages of excluded names (with reasons) gives an indication of the scale of the work. But this is much more than a list of names. The genera are treated alphabetically within classes, with
places of original publication, systematic placement by order and family, synonyms, and type species. Species entries also have full bibliographic details, synonyms, indications of the countries from which they are known and frequency in each, notes on habitat, references to key literature and illustrations, and a short final note. I was pleased to see that the decision not to include the names of sanctioning authors in author citations had been taken as this only obfuscates and confuses most users of names, but I would have included that information in the synonym lists as it is in some cases critical to understand why a particular name has been adopted. The classification used mainly follows Hawksworth et al. (1995), as the subsequent edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi ‘‘partially incorporates recent revisions based on molecular data’’. While I recognize much is yet to be settled, at least indications of suggested other placements would have been valuable. I was especially frustrated in not seeing the current and now internationally adopted generic system for the coprinoid fungi accepted, and surprised to find Xerocomus still hiding in Boletus. There is an immensely valuable index arranged by epithet concluding the work. The price is exceedingly modest, but for an A4 work which will receive extensive use a hardbound version would have been preferable, and running dictionary-style page headings would have facilitated rapid retrieval of information. But it easy to be wise after the event, and, as one of the authors of the companion volume on ascomycetes (Cannon et al. 1985), I am only too aware of the problems in producing such works, and the decisions that have to be continually made as names are assessed. The realization of this mammoth work was only made possible through funding from eight bodies, the guidance of a Project Steering Committee, and critical specialist inputs from key ‘‘amateur’’ mycologists. This is a huge achievement that will be the basis of recording and conservation work of basidiomycete fungi in these islands for the foreseeable future and a standard reference work for individual and not just library ownership. All involved deserve to be commended.
Cannon PF , Hawksworth DL , Sherwood-Pike MA , 1985. The British Ascomycotina: an Annotated Checklist. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Slough. Hawksworth DL , Kirk PK , Sutton BC , Pegler DN , 1995. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi, 8th edn. CAB International, Wallingford. Massee G , 1892-93. British Fungus Flora, 3 vols. Bell, London.
David L. Hawksworth The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia La Maliciosa, Mataelpino, ES-28492 Madrid, Spain E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2006.01.002