If you’re fascinated by fungi or the practice of foraging, then learning to identify mushrooms is essential. While this is not a guide to edible mushrooms, Mushroom Finder by Jacob Kalichman is a great tool for getting started. The handy, easy-to-use booklet is your first step in identifying mushrooms, helping to provide you with a general identification to mushrooms that are fungus-like in appearance throughout the continental United States and Canada.

Not your typical mushroom guide, the booklet is aimed at breadth rather than depth—so you’re likely to find the content that you’re looking for, but you might not be able to identify a given fungus to its specific species or genus. To that end, Mushroom Finder provides a dichotomous key to identifying fungi. Simply answer a series of simple questions about the location, shape, or appearance of the mushroom, including its cap, spores, and stem. Along the way, professional illustrations by Roo Vandegrift help you arrive at a positive general identification.

This guide is applicable to mushrooms that are or look like a fungus, that are at least 5mm tall or wide, that have feelable thickness in all directions (unlike leaf spots), and that are still fresh.

Book Features:

Step-by-step guide to identifying fungi
More than 300 types of fungi
Professional line illustrations with key markings for identification
Small format that fits into a pocket or pack