The International Code for Nomenclature of Algae, Fungi and Plants, also known as the Melbourne Code is now online. The Code governs the names of all fungi and it was impatiently awaited by mycologists as it introduces a number of important changes of the rules for nomenclature of fungi. On the first glance superficial, but in fact rather important is the mention of fungi yet in its title, as all older codes were named “International Code for Botanical Nomenclature”, thus diminishing the importance of fungi as a separate kingdom.

Here is the link to the online edition of the new Code:

http://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php

Long awaited and bitterly disappointing

Today I have finally received my copy of the new Collins Fungi Guide, a book that was announced a long time ago by Collins. I am always trying to find the best side of any book, but in this case I must say that I am really sorry for my money, although I got a substantial discount.

If I remember right, I first came across this title in 2007. Being impressed by the previously published by Collins fungal guide, authored by Courtecuisse & Duhem, I immediately put down this one on my wish list, being much impressed by the shiny description provided by the publisher. But the time was going on and the guide was put off from year to year. I will remind that the book was first announced as “The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain and Europe”. I think that from the last year this subtitle was discretely changed to the more humble “The most complete field guide to the mushrooms and toadstools of Britain and Ireland”. I have also heard a word that the American Amazon started rejecting preorders, and the book is not sold now by them except by third-party sellers. Those facts might have been enough to ring a bell and prevent me from buying it.

Now when I hold it in my hands, I cannot hold my disappointment. I will not comment on any fungal group other than boletes, but I consider boletes to be very good sample for the entire edition.

First of all I will draw reader’s attention to the illustrations. Most of these leave the impression that they were painted in a hurry, which is quite possible, especially having in mind that from some point onwards Collins contracted second illustrator besides C. Shields. Nonetheless, the quality of the illustrations is unsatisfactory and far beyond the expectations from such renowned artists.

It is clear for me though, that the bad quality is not only due to artists’ mistakes. What I see tells me that there has been bad choice of material to be illustrated in first place, everything talking of rather humble knowledge in the fungal group in question. We all know that colours of the flesh are crucial for the determination of boletes. Therefore a good field guide will show a fruitbody of a bolete together with a section which will show the flesh. Not this guide though. The sections of fruitbodies are scattered throughout the illustrations and I do not find any sense in the way they were chosen. I would expect every species to be illustrated sectioned, but moreover I would expect this in Xerocomus, where this is vital. But only 6 of 15 species of Xerocomus are shown with sectioned fruitbodies, for the rest you have to carefully read the text and try to find this information. I say “try to find”, because it is sometimes very misleading. For example, we all know that X. rubellus is characterized by the presence in the flesh of bright red dots in the base of the stipe. For this guide however, the flesh of this species is “deeper yellow towards base”. And this is not the only case. If you do not believe me, pay attention to X. bubalinus. Even in the cases when there are illustrations of sectioned fruitbodies, they might be of little help for the recognition of the species, see e. g. Boletus appendiculatus and B. subappendiculatus, where both sections look the same, causing the inexperienced reader to suffer trying to find difference which is not there. Starting from the first page with boletes, I was nearly shattered to see that the illustrations of X. chysenteron and X. chrysonemus are switched. Well, such things happen sometimes, although I find this mistake rather unpleasant. But on the same page, the illustration of X. chrysenteron shows something that very much reminds me a network of the stipe. In fact at first glance I questioned myself if I see Boletus calopus. The same way I felt when looking to the illustration of X. moravicus, which suspiciously reminds Gyroporus cyanescens and has very little in common with the first species. The bad choice of material is also very well seen in Boletus impolitus and B. pinophilus, both of them being rather difficult to recognize.

Going further, I came to another interesting decision. Boletus reticulatus is placed on a separate page, far from its relatives B. edulis, B. pinophilus and B. aereus. Possibly because the illustration is rather similar to the one of B. edulis and would have caused the question “What’s the difference”.

Browsing through the pages, I stop on Leccinum and especially on L. aurantiacum, L. albostipitatum and L. versipelle, species that have more or less orange cap. The colours of these species according to this guide are however different, pushing much towards brown. There are also other mistakes, for example in the description of X. bubalinus there is a reference to Xerocomus communis, which in this guide is under the name X. engelii. I am wondering whether this is plain mistake or the author didn’t know that X. communis and X. engelii are considered synonyms.

I could possibly go further and continue with the examples, but I do not see any point in doing this. I think that I have expressed my conclusion clearly in the title of this post.

I have recently received one new paper dealing with the complex around Xerocomus subtomentosus, a rather difficult group, which still poses several taxonomic problems despite of the recent research which much clarified the main species in this aggregate. The paper is written by the Italian mycologist Matteo Gelardi and appeared in Bolletino dell’Associazione Micologica ed Ecologica Romana.

The paper focuses on a new British collection of Xerocomus silwoodensis, an entity of recent creation, which variability is yet little known and its distribution poorly understood. Gelardi’s publication provides very detailed description of the new collection and suggests that X. silwoodensis might be under-recorded and is possibly more widespread than currently known. The macro characters and the microscopic features of the new collection are illustrated, together with the rest of the species in X. subtomentosus complex.

In addition Gelardi provides a comprehensive comparison of the four species in the compex and a dichotomic key for identification. What especially turns reader’s attention is that Gelardi recognizes several colour forms in this complex, namely X. ferrugineus f. citrinovirens,  X. subtomentosus f. luteolus and f. rubrotinctus, the first combination has never been validly published. I like this treatment as I have thought that such approach is necessary at least until more comprehensive knowledge is achieved on the variability in this group.

Below are the bibliographic details of the publication.
Gelardi, M. 2011. A noteworthy British collection of Xerocomus silwoodensis and a comparative overview on the European species of X. subtomentosus complex. – Bolletino dell’ Associazione Micologica ed Ecologica Romana 84: 28–38.

Measuring of the spores and other microscopic structures of fungi is always necessary, in order to reach identification. It is a laborious task when done on the microscope, but it is much easier when structures are measured on digital images by specialized software. I must admit that I am sometimes tired by the expensive and clumsy programs that come with professional microscopes. However there are several free and easy to use options. I have recently come across one nice program, which caught my eye. I would like to present it here. Here is my impression which I get from the quick testing of this suite.

Installation

The installation is fairly simple; you just download and run a small installer, which initiate the download and installation of the suite. Network connection will be necessary for that, but you can alternatively choose to download the entire installation package and manually start the process. The installation is absolutely automatic and the speed largely depends on your computer; it took some time on mine, but it was acceptable.

System requirements

Piximetre runs on both 32 and 64-bit machines. It requires Windows operating system and has impressive compatibility working under Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. I run mine on Windows XP. Framework NET 4.0 is needed, so you must have it preinstalled; the authors provide link in case you need to set it up.

Language support

Piximetre supports French and English (US). The working language is automatically set up during the installation following the working language of your PC. Of course it might be changed at any time later.

Working with Piximetre

Generally, I find using Piximetre fairly straightforward. I decided not to read the manual and test how user-friendly is its interface. I must say that I was not disappointed. If you have used other software for measuring objects, it is not difficult to get working with this one. Most of the steps and the options are self-explanatory and you gradually get a grip of the program.

Opening an image. You do this as expected by the button “Open”, conveniently placed in the upper left corner of the working pane. Alternatively you can use the elegant and easy “drag-and-drop”-option, simply dragging your file to the Piximetre-window.

Calibrating the image. This step largely depends on the images you are about to measure. If you are using captures from fixed-focus camera on your microscope, they will most probably contain the necessary information which together with the objective used will allow doing the calibration. Alternatively you set the calibration by drawing a line and pointing its length in chosen units (e. g. micrometers). A user friendly wizard leads you during the process.

Measuring spores. Measuring is also fairly easy. You draw a line over the object you would like to measure and the program automatically computes the length of the line and records the value. It is presumed that two measurements will be taken – length and width. Something that I find especially useful is that you get alerted when the line of the second measurement gets in the right position to the first one (see the caption below). The measurements appear on the tab “Formulateur” of the service window on top of the screen. Statistics of length, width and spore quotient are automatically computed while you measure. You get minimum and maximum values, confidence interval (68% or 95% as selected) and mean values. After measurements are done, the values might be exported in txt-file for storing and further use. The function “Export” from the context menu allows you also to export portion or the entire image as it stands on the screen, i. e. with all individual measurements graphically embedded. You can add other information (the computed statistics for example) into this image and you may change its size and compression.

Graphic presentation and comparisons. You may see graphical presentation of your measurements clicking on the tab “Comparateur” of the service window. Further on, you may compare several series of measurements e. g. by dragging and dropping data files onto the “Comparateur”.

Changing parameters. You can change several parameters of the program from the tab “Parameters” from the service window.

Help. You get help messages on several occasions and in some cases there is an “i”-button, giving more information. In addition, there is extensive user guide in French on the home page of the program.

Updates. Piximetre is updated regularly, once or twice a year. The program automatically checks for updates, but the update itself always require user’s confirmation.

Availability. Piximetre is free software, which you may obtain through its web-page.

I am happy to present to the readers two very nice books which I have received from their author Giorgos Konstantinidis. They are among the few such books on the Balkans and together with the purely scientific publications serve as a valuable source of information on the boletes of Greece. Those two books made me refresh my long forgotten Greek, one of the most interesting European languages to learn.

Giorgos Konstantinidis is an amateur mycologist, working in Greece. He is author of several books on the fungi in Greece and curator of the most comprehensive web-site for the Greek fungi – www.manitari.gr.

Mushrooms – a photographic guide to the collectors

This field guide impresses the reader from the very first glance. It is printed on high quality paper, the numerous photographs being excellently reproduced. The book is finished by the sturdy hardcover.

The book includes several introductory chapters, which lead the mushrooms enthusiasts through, giving them the necessary basic knowledge about the mushrooms – their morphology, biology and ecology. Yet here, I must say that this book is not intended only for mushroom eaters, but is a valuable book for those people who would like to get deeper in the mushrooms. As such, it has a detailed enough chapter which explains how mushrooms are collected and studied for scientific purposes. There is also a handy glossary and list of the names of the trees in Latin and Greek.

Further on, follow the descriptions of 450 species with many others described in comments with their essential distinguishing characters. Of course, there is some focus on genera with practical value, as for example Amanita and Agaricus, but the coverage is really impressive. There are many species that are very rarely seen illustrated in mycological books, for which I never knew that were found in Greece. There are many of them, but I may name Amanita boudieri, A. curtipes, A. ponderosa, Crepidotus cinnabarinus, Volvariella caesiotincta, etc.

Now let me say more about the boletes in this book. They are generously presented, there is no doubt. And what catches my eye from the same beginning that it described a number of rare boletes that are not mentioned in any known to me scientific work on the Greek boletes, e. g. Boletus aemilii, B. fragrans, B. permagnificus, B. pulchrotinctus, Boletus ichnusanus, Boletus roseoalbidus, Leccinum lepidum and Suillus bellinii.

As for all other species, there are detailed descriptions of the different bolete species, including gross morphology and microscopic features, as well as advice for the similar species and how to distinguish them. What I find especially valuable is the information about the distribution of the species in Greece.

The following species of boletes are present in the book:

Aureoboletus gentilis, Boletus aereus, B. appendiculatus, B. calopus, B. caucasicus, B. dupainii, B. edulis (and its f. albus as B. persoonii), B. fechtneri, B. fragrans, B. impolitus, B. legaliae, B. lupinus, B. luridiformis, B. luridus (var. luridus, var. rubriceps), B. permagnificus, B. pinophilus, B. pseudoregius, B. pulchrotinctus, B. pulverulentus, B. queletii, B. radicans, B. regius, B. reticulatus, B. rhodopurpureus, B. rhodoxanthus, B. satanas, B. spretus (as B. aemilii), B. subappendiculatus, Chalciporus amarellus, C. piperatus, Chroogomphus rutilus, Gomphidius glutinosus, Gyrodon lividus, Gyroporus castaneus, G. cyanescens, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, Leccinum albostipitatum (as L. aurantiacum), L. crocipodium, L. duriusculum, L. lepidum, L. pseudoscabrum, L. scabrum, Omphalotus olearius, Paxillus involutus, P. rubicundulus, Phylloporus pelletieri, Porphyrellus porphyrosporus, Strobilomyces strobilaceus, Suillus bellinii, S. bovinus, S. collinitus, S. granulatus, S. lakei, S. luteus, S. variegatus, Tapinella atrotomentosa, T. panuoides (var. panuoides, var. ionipus), Tylopilus felleus, Xerocomus badius (as Boletus), X. chrysenteron (as Boletus), X. declivitatus (as Boletus), X. ferrugineus (as Boletus), X. ichnusanus (as Boletus), X. moravicus (as Boletus), X. porosporus (as Boletus), X. pruinatus (as Boletus), X. roseoalbidus (as Rubinoboletus), X. rubellus (as Boletus), X. subtomentosus (as Boletus).

The vast majority of the remaining European species are described in comments by their distinguishing characters.

Bibliographic details:

Κωνσταντινίδης, Γ. 2009. Μανιτάρια, φωτογραφικός οδηγός μανιταροσυλλέκτη. Αυτοέκδοση, Αθήνα. [Konstantinidis, G. 2009. Mushrooms, a photographic guide for collectors. Published by the author, Athens.] ISBN 978-960-93-1450-3

Mushrooms – a pocket guide

Excellent name for this nice book, which is indeed very suitable for putting in your pocket as it is only 13 by 9 centimeters. Despite of its small size, it contains a lot of information – totally 240 species are described in it and the size certainly cannot talk about the quality. There is a good number of boletes, which urges me to present it here.

Here is a list of the included boletes and bolete allies:

Boletus aereus, B. calopus, B. depilatus, B. dupainii, B. edulis, B. impolitus, B. legaliae, B. lupinus, B. luridiformis, B. luridus, B. permagnificus, B. pinophilus, B. pseudoregius, B. pulchrotinctus, B. pulverulentus, B. queletii, B. radicans, B. regius, B. reticulatus, B. rhodopurpureus, B. rhodoxanthus, B. satanas, C. piperatus, Chroogomphus rutilus, Gomphidius glutinosus, G. roseus, Gyroporus castaneus, G. cyanescens, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, Leccinum albostipitatum (as L. aurantiacum), L. crocipodium, L. pseudoscabrum, Omphalotus olearius, Paxillus involutus, P. rubicundulus, Porphyrellus porphyrosporus, Strobilomyces strobilaceus, S. bovinus, S. luteus, S. variegatus, Tylopilus felleus, X. chrysenteron (as Boletus), X. moravicus (as Boletus), X. roseoalbidus (as Rubinoboletus), X. rubellus (as Boletus), X. subtomentosus (as Boletus).

Other species of boletes are included in comments.

Bibliographic details:

Κωνσταντινίδης, Γ. 2009. Μανιτάρια, οδηγός τσέπης. Αυτοέκδοση, Αθήνα. [Konstantinidis, G. 2009. Mushrooms, a photographic guide for collectors. Published by the author, Athens.] ISBN 978-960-93-2158-7

Finally, if you are literature maniac like me, you will certainly like to have those two handy books.

Contact of the author: info@manitari.gr