Bookshelf Fungi & Film Review


Te engaging content is traversed in


five chapters: Te Origin of Herbaria, Herbaria and the Age of Botanical Exploration, Development of Herbaria in the United States, Development of Herbaria Around the World (Australia, Brazil, China, South Africa), and Te Future of Herbaria [the use of specimens and data]. Te book is richly illustrated with photos of specimens, botanical illustrations, notable people, and related history. Te fungi are included at several places in the book where appropriate. Te first herbarium or collection of


Herbarium: Te Quest to Preserve and Classify the


World’s Plants Barbara M. Tiers 2020, Timber Press ISBN-10: 1604699302; ISBN-13: 978-1604699302 304 pages, hardback Dimensions: 8.7 x 1.2 x 10.2 inches https://www.workman.com/ products/herbarium $40.00


T


he herbarium is a collection of preserved botanical (plant and


fungal) specimens. Some researchers may have a personal herbarium. Te largest institutional herbaria have millions of specimens. Tese specimens and associated data document the occurrence of an organism at a particular place and time. Tey also form the basis for taxonomy and our understanding of the world’s diversity. As the daughter of Dr. Harry Tiers,


documenter of the fungi and bryophytes of California, Barbara grew up helping him with specimen collection and preservation in the herbarium. Tirty years ago Barbara started working at the herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden where she is now the director. She became aware that the history of herbaria was poorly known; this led to her writing this book.


68 FUNGI Volume 14:4 Fall 2021


pressed and dried plants was started by physician and professor Luca Ghini, in Bologna, Italy (circa 1530s). He wanted students to study plant material directly and later created the first botanic garden for the same purpose at the University of Pisa. Ghini’s students spread the herbarium methods to other European countries. Te early plant specimens were often mounted on pages in book volumes. About a hundred years later, after the invention of the microscope, the cryptogams gained more attention and study. “Cryptogamic plants,” with “hidden marriages” reproduce by spores rather than seeds (as in the Phanerogams). Tese include the algae and fungi along with the vascular ferns and “allies” (clubmoss, spikemoss, quillwort, whisk fern, horsetail), and the non-vascular bryophytes (moss, liverwort, hornwort). Tese organisms present additional challenges to preservation. Te importance of herbaria only


increases over time as we develop new tools for compilation and analysis of the specimens and data. You can participate and contribute by volunteer work at a local herbarium or taking part in the Fungal Diversity Survey (fundis.org). Related resources: Mycology Collections Portal Te core of MyCoPortal is the data


portal to fungal collections at herbaria across the continent and beyond. Te system also serves observation data from iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer. https://mycoportal.org/ Index Herbariorum A worldwide index of 3,100 herbaria and 12,000 associated staff where


390 million botanical specimens are permanently housed. http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/ –Patrick R. Leacock, Te Field Museum, Chicago


Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest


Suzanne Simard 2021, Knopf Publ. ISBN-10: 052565609X; ISBN-13: 978-0525656098 368 pages; hardcover


Dimensions 6.4 x 1 x 9.5 inches F


or more than a decade I’ve had Google alerts set up for “fungi” and


“mushrooms” and, until recently, most of the articles were about cures for athlete’s foot or recipes like stuffed mushrooms. Tere were annual notices of forays and festivals, and occasionally a poisoning, usually a curious puppy, sometimes an unfortunate family. But lately interest in fungi has swelled. Mushrooms seem to be the newest health and wellness trend and, judging from my Instagram feed, there’s a whole new crowd of gorgeous young people interested in mycology. Tese days I’m drowning in alerts about mushroom hunting, medicinal mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, fungi in fashion and fungi as a metaphor for the common good. Tis last notion derives from


predominantly 21st-century research showing that the forest is not merely a collection of trees but a community connected by fungi. Te idea has captured the imagination of the public,


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