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Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota
Field Mycology Volume 6(4), October 2005 The publication of the Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota reveals that there are seven additional species, such as L. violascens and L. salicis-herbaceae, now confirmed as British, that might helpfully have been added. One suspects that the lengthy delay between the preparation of the original text and its publication may be to blame. Volumes in the British Fungus Flora are always particularly useful to those mycologists wishing to identify and record British species because they contain excellent species descriptions and concentrate on British species.This volume is no exception and will help to encourage accurate identifications. At a very reasonable £14 including p & p and a copy of the BFF Colour Identification Chart, no British mycologist should be without the BFF volume 9 on Lactarius. Patrick Leonard
Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota N.W. Legon and A. Henrici with P.J. Roberts, B.M. Spooner and R.Watling. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1 84246 121 4 Softback £29 + p. & p. Available from www.kewbooks.com n 1960 the British Mycological Society published the New Check List of British Agarics and Boleti by R.W.G. Dennis, P.D. Orton and F.B. Hora. A little smaller in size than this magazine (B6), it consisted of 225 pages with an introduction, a list of the known taxa with synonyms and references to icones and an alphabetic list of specific, varietal and form epithets, many with accompanying notes.That volume has served the mycological community for over 40 years but, with the advances in our knowledge, changes in synonymy and many new species published every year it has become increasingly out of date. Now after five years in production we have a new checklist for perhaps the next 40 years… This time it is A4 in size and 517 pages in length. This checklist includes not just the agarics and boleti but also polypores, cyphelloid fungi, gastroid fungi, clavarioid fungi, hynoid fungi and jelly fungi as well as rust fungi, smuts and basidiomycetous yeasts. Principal synonyms are given as well as useful notes on habitat and distribution within the British Isles and icones. Notes on species, where necessary, are given directly below each entry, a much more user-friendly method than that used in the 1960 check list. A glance at the contents will reveal very great changes in species lists. The total
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Field Mycology Volume 6(4), October 2005 number of species quoted on the back cover is 3670 (no, I didn’t count…). Looking just at those groups with which I am most familiar, the Russulaceae and Boletaceae, you will find that in the genus Russula the old checklist had 87 species while the new checklist has 139, including quite a number of name changes as well as all the additions. In Boletus in the old checklist (which included all of the modern satellite genera such as Leccinum, Suillus etc) there are 44 species while in the new checklist (again including all of the other related genera) there are something in the order of 73 species, and so on and so on… At the beginning of the book is a section explaining the criteria used and how each entry is laid out and what the many abbreviations mean. This is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of both short references and standard reference works. At the back of the book is an index of all current and excluded names, including infraspecific taxa such as varieties and forms. Included taxa and aliens are in bold type while synonyms are in italics, excluded taxa are in plain Roman type with synonyms of these in italics. Misapplied names are also in italics. This makes it very easy to see at a glance whether a name is considered valid or not. Excluded taxa have a section of their own and each entry has a discussion as to why it is excluded: fascinating and very useful stuff. Is it perfect? No of course not. By their very nature works of this sort are out of date as soon as they come off the press. Mycology is always advancing and changing and there will always be new species, fungal name changes and of course simple errors to contend with. But unlike the old checklist this work is now in electronic format and therefore easily updateable. Also, this information will eventually appear on the web, where it can be more rapidly kept up to date—an ideal situation. This is an invaluable work for anyone involved in almost any aspect of mycology and at last we have a modern, exhaustive and well-researched list on which to base all of our records for many years to come. The authors are to be commended for their hard work and industry, a labour that bears comparison with Hercules and the Augean stables! Geoffrey Kibby
INDEX INDEX TO VOLS 5 AND 6 An index appears every alternate year in the October issue. Author Index (excluding regular features, letters and book reviews) Ainsworth, Martyn 5(1):5, 5(2):45, 5(4):142, 6(2):41, 6(4):113 Andrews, Anne 5(2):52, 5(3):89, 6(1):33, 6(3):92, 6(3):100 Biles, Liz 5(1):11 Bingham, John & Denise 6(1):11 Blackwell, Ted 5(1):17, 6(1):15 Braddock, Alan 5(4):124 Brand, A.W. & G.M. 5(1):14 Brown, Ted 5(4):113 Burnham, Antony 5(4):119,125 Cullington, Penny 5(1):24, 5(4):120 DeCesare, Lisa 6(3):94
Dickson, Gordon 5(2):49 Edwards, Sean 6(1):27 Eggerling, Thomas W. 5(2):41 Emmett, Ern 5(2):49 Fortey, Richard 5(2):43, 5(3):77, 6(4):130 Greenhalgh, Pauline 6(2):62 Henrici, Alick 5(3):87, 6(1):13, 6(4):127 Hills, Alan 5(3):106, 6(1):34, 6(3):98 Hobart, Carol 6(3):77, 6(4):124 Holden, Liz 6(1):10 Kemp, Roger 5(2):51 Kibby, Geoffrey 6(1):31, 6(3):98 Long, Justin 5(4):139 Lucas, Alan 6(2):64 Marriott, Jack 5(2):56, 6(2):68 Mattock, Graham 6(2):65 McAdam, Archie 5(3):81, 5(4):121 McHugh, Roland 5(2):70
143
McClauchlin, Jane 6(3):106 Moss, Morris 6(3):83 Nelsen, Steve 5(3):85, 6(4):121 Overall, Andy 5(1):12, 5(3):83, 5(4):116, 6(1):29, 6(4):117 Pitt, Joyce 5(1):16, 5(3):84, 6(3):80 Roberts, John 5(1):22 Roberts, Peter 5(1):34, 5(2):60 Robinson, Kerry 6(1):8 Russell, Peter 5(4):119, 6(3):85 Savage, Dave 6(4):132 Shattock, R.C. 5(4):132, 6(1):22 Shotbolt, Richard 5(1):34, 5(2):72 Skeates, Stuart 5(1):43 Spooner, Brian 6(1):25 Stannard, Sherry 5(4):119 Storey, Malcolm 6(3):100,104 Tortelli, Mario 5(3):92 Trostanetsky, Anatoly 6(1):5 Weightman, Jo 5(3):99 Wilberforce, Peter 6(3):81
Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota N.W. Legon and A. Henrici with P.J. Roberts, B.M. Spooner and R.Watling. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1 84246 121 4 Softback £29 + p. & p. Available from www.kewbooks.com n 1960 the British Mycological Society published the New Check List of British Agarics and Boleti by R.W.G. Dennis, P.D. Orton and F.B. Hora. A little smaller in size than this magazine (B6), it consisted of 225 pages with an introduction, a list of the known taxa with synonyms and references to icones and an alphabetic list of specific, varietal and form epithets, many with accompanying notes.That volume has served the mycological community for over 40 years but, with the advances in our knowledge, changes in synonymy and many new species published every year it has become increasingly out of date. Now after five years in production we have a new checklist for perhaps the next 40 years… This time it is A4 in size and 517 pages in length. This checklist includes not just the agarics and boleti but also polypores, cyphelloid fungi, gastroid fungi, clavarioid fungi, hynoid fungi and jelly fungi as well as rust fungi, smuts and basidiomycetous yeasts. Principal synonyms are given as well as useful notes on habitat and distribution within the British Isles and icones. Notes on species, where necessary, are given directly below each entry, a much more user-friendly method than that used in the 1960 check list. A glance at the contents will reveal very great changes in species lists. The total
I
142
Field Mycology Volume 6(4), October 2005 number of species quoted on the back cover is 3670 (no, I didn’t count…). Looking just at those groups with which I am most familiar, the Russulaceae and Boletaceae, you will find that in the genus Russula the old checklist had 87 species while the new checklist has 139, including quite a number of name changes as well as all the additions. In Boletus in the old checklist (which included all of the modern satellite genera such as Leccinum, Suillus etc) there are 44 species while in the new checklist (again including all of the other related genera) there are something in the order of 73 species, and so on and so on… At the beginning of the book is a section explaining the criteria used and how each entry is laid out and what the many abbreviations mean. This is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of both short references and standard reference works. At the back of the book is an index of all current and excluded names, including infraspecific taxa such as varieties and forms. Included taxa and aliens are in bold type while synonyms are in italics, excluded taxa are in plain Roman type with synonyms of these in italics. Misapplied names are also in italics. This makes it very easy to see at a glance whether a name is considered valid or not. Excluded taxa have a section of their own and each entry has a discussion as to why it is excluded: fascinating and very useful stuff. Is it perfect? No of course not. By their very nature works of this sort are out of date as soon as they come off the press. Mycology is always advancing and changing and there will always be new species, fungal name changes and of course simple errors to contend with. But unlike the old checklist this work is now in electronic format and therefore easily updateable. Also, this information will eventually appear on the web, where it can be more rapidly kept up to date—an ideal situation. This is an invaluable work for anyone involved in almost any aspect of mycology and at last we have a modern, exhaustive and well-researched list on which to base all of our records for many years to come. The authors are to be commended for their hard work and industry, a labour that bears comparison with Hercules and the Augean stables! Geoffrey Kibby
INDEX INDEX TO VOLS 5 AND 6 An index appears every alternate year in the October issue. Author Index (excluding regular features, letters and book reviews) Ainsworth, Martyn 5(1):5, 5(2):45, 5(4):142, 6(2):41, 6(4):113 Andrews, Anne 5(2):52, 5(3):89, 6(1):33, 6(3):92, 6(3):100 Biles, Liz 5(1):11 Bingham, John & Denise 6(1):11 Blackwell, Ted 5(1):17, 6(1):15 Braddock, Alan 5(4):124 Brand, A.W. & G.M. 5(1):14 Brown, Ted 5(4):113 Burnham, Antony 5(4):119,125 Cullington, Penny 5(1):24, 5(4):120 DeCesare, Lisa 6(3):94
Dickson, Gordon 5(2):49 Edwards, Sean 6(1):27 Eggerling, Thomas W. 5(2):41 Emmett, Ern 5(2):49 Fortey, Richard 5(2):43, 5(3):77, 6(4):130 Greenhalgh, Pauline 6(2):62 Henrici, Alick 5(3):87, 6(1):13, 6(4):127 Hills, Alan 5(3):106, 6(1):34, 6(3):98 Hobart, Carol 6(3):77, 6(4):124 Holden, Liz 6(1):10 Kemp, Roger 5(2):51 Kibby, Geoffrey 6(1):31, 6(3):98 Long, Justin 5(4):139 Lucas, Alan 6(2):64 Marriott, Jack 5(2):56, 6(2):68 Mattock, Graham 6(2):65 McAdam, Archie 5(3):81, 5(4):121 McHugh, Roland 5(2):70
143
McClauchlin, Jane 6(3):106 Moss, Morris 6(3):83 Nelsen, Steve 5(3):85, 6(4):121 Overall, Andy 5(1):12, 5(3):83, 5(4):116, 6(1):29, 6(4):117 Pitt, Joyce 5(1):16, 5(3):84, 6(3):80 Roberts, John 5(1):22 Roberts, Peter 5(1):34, 5(2):60 Robinson, Kerry 6(1):8 Russell, Peter 5(4):119, 6(3):85 Savage, Dave 6(4):132 Shattock, R.C. 5(4):132, 6(1):22 Shotbolt, Richard 5(1):34, 5(2):72 Skeates, Stuart 5(1):43 Spooner, Brian 6(1):25 Stannard, Sherry 5(4):119 Storey, Malcolm 6(3):100,104 Tortelli, Mario 5(3):92 Trostanetsky, Anatoly 6(1):5 Weightman, Jo 5(3):99 Wilberforce, Peter 6(3):81