Finally a true field guide!

If you love mushrooms and often hunt them in Northern California and other points north along the coast states, all the way up to Alaska, I suggest picking up a copy of Mike Beug's fine book, "Mushrooms of Cascadia, An Illustrated Key to the Fungi of the Pacific Northwest." 

Author Mike Beug, a former mycology and chemistry professor at Evergreen State College, has lived in the PNW for over 50 years. He has extensive field experience of collecting mushrooms in the PNW. His prodigious identification skills and key writing abilites were perfected during decades working within the PNW Key Council. The PNW Key Council is composed of some of the finest, most altruistic fungal taxonomists in the PNW, whose sole purpose is to write useful, publicly available keys to various fungal groups. 

Beug's book is a beautifully illustrated key to many of the fungi found in Cascadia and beyond. Pictorial and then descriptive keys take you to species, not just groups, and highlight those important species differences, so that you can narrow down your search without wading through reams of text. It does require you to take a spore print in the case of agarics, unless, of course, you already know that spore color. Spore prints CAN be useful, no matter what jaded fungal folks might say over on Facebook!

It also briefly discusses fungi as food, as well as how to collect and how to stay safe in the forest.

But the bulk of it are the keys.

This is a hugely useful book for both beginners and more experienced mushroom hunters, easy to use, small enough to carry, and reasonably priced. Although the fungal descriptions are brief, deeper details can be found on any keyed species in the free to download website "Matchmaker," the creation of Ian Gibson, another Key Council member. I told ya these guys (and gals) were altruists! :)

MycoMatch Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest

Frustrated when trying to ID Ramarias? I sure am. Mike's key to Ramarias uses first color, and then distinctive features, time of year, etc., to help you get to your species. How to maximize your chances of finding that ID are also discussed. No time to waste when IDing Ramarias! They lose their beautiful colors within a day of picking.

There is an extensive Cortinarius section, which sometimes even lists the unique colors shown when exposed to UV light. Use of a UV light in species identifications has become more popular within the amateur community recently. Fun to have that data here. One could easily write a book on PNW Cortinarius alone. Cortinarius are the most abundant genus found under Oregon white oak in the PNW. Many are still undescribed.

Mostly the book is illustrated by Beug's own photos, followed by several dozen photos from his mentor, the late Kit Scates Barnhart, a dozen or so from Harley Barnhart, and a handful from Paul Stamets (mostly psilocybes, of course!). It is portable, well bound, and with high quality paper; a perfect addition to your basket of field necessities. 

Dr. Mike Beug has donated his time and experience and abilities, not just in taxonomy but in his tireless work in fungal toxicology for NAMA, for decades. This is only his second published book. Do the man a solid, and yourself a favor, and buy it for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

~ Debbie Viess, Co-Founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society

I think this will soon be the mushroom book of choice for enthusiast mushroom hunters in the Pacific Northwest. We carry guidebooks to help us learn new species, but we often get overwhelmed with all the details, and find ourselves endlessly leafing through a book hunting for a photo that matches our pick. With Mushrooms of Cascadia, Dr. Michael Beug offers a more efficient and hopefully more sure-fire route to mushroom I.D. He has organized over 1,000 species into a single grand “key,” which you can go through step by step choosing among 2 to 4 short, simple alternatives. The characteristics do not require a microscope. 

They are in fairly simple language; you will have to learn a handful of terms in the glossary. Each species has a good color photo. 

This was no small task. Mushrooms of Cascadia recaps the efforts of the PNW Key Council, a group of experts that has been refining the key since 1974.  

There is no questioning Dr. Beug’s expertise. He has taught and studied mycology for decades (Paul Stamets was his student), discovered more than 100 new species, and authored many papers. Mushroom toxins were a particular focus. I’m grateful that he tries to answer the edibility question for most species (much more consistently than most guidebooks do) though in many cases he ends up writing “Edible?” A couple of them say “Delicious but DEADLY.” How does he know? 

Many of the scientific names do not match familiar ones; Dr. Beug is in regular contact with scientists at the cutting edge of genetic analysis. Intriguingly, he ends up putting a great many scientific names in quote marks, indicating that the current name needs to change but no new name is resolved yet. On his website, where he posts further updates, there are already a dozen name changes since the book went to press.

There’s a helpful short chapter on freezing, drying, and cooking mushrooms, with three recipes. Ten Speed Press gave us the fantastic granddaddy of mushroom guides, Mushrooms Demystified, in 1979, but in recent decades mostly publishes glossy cookbooks. I’m glad they found their way back to their roots… er, mycelium.

~ Daniel Mathews, Author

Daniel's most recent book is:

"Rocky Mountain Field Guide: A Trailside Natural History, Mountaineers Books 2024

Dr. Michael Beug’s Mushrooms of Cascadia is a triumphant achievement in the annals of mycology. His illustrated key helps readers logically navigate through the often bewildering array of mushrooms, choosing features that most relevantly separate one cluster of species from another. Having known Michael all my adult life and watching his passion – his compassion – to the field of mycology, this book fills an important gap by focusing on the mushrooms in the Cascadian ecosystems. Too many books just show a few species over too broad a geographical range, leaving out many species, and are confusing. Mushrooms of Cascadia is a rare accomplishment. Dr. Beug expertly guides you on an academic field trip to safely identify mushrooms. I applaud and highly recommend Mushrooms of Cascadia as the best field guide to the mysterious and magical mushrooms in the Cascadia bioregion. Well done Professor!                    

~ Paul Stamets, Author and Founder of Fungi Perfecti LLC

Mushrooms of Cascadia is a unique and exciting new field guide for the PNW. The combination of identification keys illustrated with photographs for each choice will help beginners and experts alike to rapidly narrow the possibilities and zero in on an identification. Dr. Beug has brought field identification of mushrooms into the reach of many mycophiles, especially those who like to identify mushrooms in the field without picking them. Covering more than 900 species specific to the Cascadia bioregion and illustrated with over 1,000 excellent photos, this is THE book for the PNW. As an added bonus, it’s actually small enough to carry in the field. Dr. Beug needed to write this book to share a lifetime of awesome mushroom photos. I’m really excited that this project has come to fruition. I look forward to sharing this with my students.  

~ Paul Przybylowicz, Author and faculty member at The Evergreen State College

Don’t live in the Pacific Northwest? Not a resident of Cascadia? Before you “swipe left,” you should consider that the significance of this guide lies well beyond the confines of Cascadian fungi (as if 4,000 species and 535, 000 square miles can be considered confining). In fact, the history of mycology in North America runs through this handy tome. It is a distillation of a life’s work in mycology.

The expertise and influence of Dr. Michael Beug is enmeshed with the ascendancy of North American mycology.  Beginning in 1975, Dr. Beug was part of the Pacific Northwest Key Council established by mycologist Dr. Daniel Stuntz, and mycological photographer/amateur mycologist Kit Scates Barnhart. As a member of this group from its initiation, he helped to create and field test dichotomous keys for Cascadia species. 

~ Dr Luara Juszczak