UK Fungi

NB: Any links to book details are for information only, and confer no allegiance to any specific supplier. Books may be obtained from other suppliers from whom prices and availability may differ.

Fungi of Switzerland (Vol.1) Ascomycetes, by J. Breitenbach & F. Kränzlin. Published 1984, 310 pages, hardback, 29 x 21.5 x 2cm.
One of the series of 6 Fungi of Switzerland books. Contains identification key, and descriptions of macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of 390 species, each accompanied by a good quality photograph, and b/w line illustrations.
http://www.summerfieldbooks.com/fungi-o ... cetes~3217

British Cup Fungi and Their Allies, by R.W.G. Dennis. Published 1960, 280 pages, plus a further 20 pages of b/w line illustrations, and 40 pages of colour illustrations. Hardback, 24.5 x 16 x 2.8cm.
Now long out of print and becoming increasingly costly in the used book market. But well worth tracking down if a copy can be found at reasonable price.

British Ascomycetes, by R.W.G. Dennis. (Second Impression -Published 1981), 650 pages (including addenda and corrigenda, 35 pages of b/w line illustrations, and 45 pages of colour illustrations). Hardback, 23 x 15 x 5cm.
Also long out of print, much harder to find, and even more costly than the above in the used book market- but still acknowledged as one of the best books available on the subject.
A modern reprint of the book is currently available from this supplier. (I have not seen a copy so cannot comment upon it):-
http://www.nhbs.com/title/view/108903

Microfungi on Land Plants An Identification Handbook, by Martin B. Ellis and J. Pamela Ellis. (New Enlarged Edition-Published 1997), 870 pages, 24 x 16 x 4.8cm. This book is not specific to ascomycetes, but covers the full spectrum of fungi that can be found growing on plants. (Including rusts, smuts, mildews, hyphomycetes, coelomycetes, etc. etc.).
Contains extensive keys, descriptions of macro and micro characteristics of over 3500 species, more than 2200 b/w line illustrations, and indices both by fungus and by host plant.
http://www.summerfieldbooks.com/microfu ... ndbook~500

There is also a wealth of resources at http://www.ascofrance.com , where you will find Europe's leading ascomycete specialists.

Regards,
Mike.

Also, don't forget "Ascomycetes in Colour" by Peter Thompson
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascomycetes-Col ... 1479747556

Ascomycetes in Colour illustrates and describes 700 species of fungi from the ascomycota. These fungi are mainly cups, discs and spheres which grow on, or just beneath the surface of their host. Their shapes, sizes, colours and textures vary greatly and together they represent an intricate and beautiful part of the fungus kingdom, which is just waiting to be explored. They can be found throughout the year growing on a wide range of substrates, including decaying wood and leaves, herbaceous stems, grasses, sedges, rushes, ferns, dung and burnt ground. All of the species have been found and photographed in habitats such as woodland, grassland, heath land, coastal sand dunes, marshes, banks of streams and edges of ponds in mainland Britain.

A nice feature is that Peter sends regular emails with pdfs of species not in the book when he finds them.

This section on Ascomycetes is from "The Fifth Kingdom" a book I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about fungi.

http://www.mycolog.com/CHAP4a.htm

Dave

I fear this will get lost amongst the background hum, but for anyone interested in ascomycetes see:
https://in-vivo-veritas.de/ and the link on to https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... 0N1aGY5YTg

When I started looking at these fungi we were lucky to have Dennis's British Ascomycetes, and then Martin and Pam Ellis's splendid Microfungi on Land Plants These can now be supported by Zotto's wonderfully detailed photographs and (especially) his drawings. The latter approach is, sadly, rare now in mycology - we don't look closely enough a lot of the time.

For anyone fortunate enough to be able to afford them:
a good microscope
a decent camera able to convey what has been seen through the above

can be a great start. Posting on a site like ASCOFrance will elicit help and, crucially, links/emails to the literature needed. I have a lot of papers etc in PDF form which I am happy to share if the purpose is solely personal study.

cheers
Chris

Hot off the (digital) press - this is an important classification of "discomycetes" in the broad sense. Downloadable - full marks to IMA Fungus for making this and similar papers Open Access:

https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/art ... 019-0002-x

Some lovely resources here but still a massive minefield and one that seems to always throw up something new. I am just creeping back into fungi mode before the season starts proper - already the ascos are causing me a headache. Chris you mention you have many papers on these beautiful blighters - I am intrigued. Can we have access to these please?

Hope all is well by the way - I have been immersed in birds, bugs and blooms for a while trying to get many things recorded and the natural world helped - a tough task.

Cheers

FP Dave

The recent Fungi of Temperate Europe covers Ascomycetes in vol 2.

For anyone interested in Orbiliomycetes: -

I’ve just discovered that this monumental 2 volume work is now available free, as PDF downloads: - MONOGRAPH OF ORBILIOMYCETES (ASCOMYCOTA) — Parts 1 & 2 (Hans-Otto Baral, Evi Weber & Guy Marson) - Published in 2020, (and costing well over £100.00 in book form): -

The two books, along with several supplementary lists/analyses/tables etc. are all freely available as high quality PDF downloads from this webpage: -

https://www.mnhn.lu/science/monograph-o ... s/?lang=en

Regards,
Mike