Conspectus of World Ethnomycology. Fungi in Ceremonies, Crafts, Diets, Medicines, and Myths. 2011. 27 (18 col.) figs. 160 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

This book surveys the folk usage of fungi worldwide from the perspective of a specialist in germplasm conservation and research. It catalogs the scientific names of fungi used for food, medicine, and other miscellaneous applications by indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, hunter-gatherers, and others commonly referred to as folk in ethnographic literature. The origins of the discipline of ethnomycology are sketched, and an argument is made for theorigins of scientific mycology from the herb-wives and other wise-women of premodern Europe. The evolution of ethnomycology is traced from a focus on entheogenic fungi to broader folk practices and applications. Synopses are provided of the most important groups and species of fungi used for food or medicine or in craft production on each habitable continent or major geographic region, and a sampling of folklore pertinent to fungi in each such region is given. Multiple examples are provided of the cultivation or harvest of edible or medicinal fungi, especially when such activities sustain seasonally employed or underemployed people, such as Roma in Europe, certain immigrant groups in North America, and peasant farmers in various geographic regions. Literature is cited toguide readers toward in situ and ex situ sources of fungal germplasm and to broader appreciation of folk uses (primitive biotechnology) of fungi and other anthropological aspects involving the fungal kingdom.