Mushrooms of British Columbia - Paperback

by Andy MacKinnon (Author), Kem Luther (Author)

With more species of fungi than any other region in Canada, British Columbia is a rich playground for mushroom hunters. Now there's Mushrooms of British Columbia, the newest and updated handbook from the Royal BC Museum. It's perfect for anyone wanting to know more about BC mushrooms--whether for study, harvest, photography or appreciation. Authors and mushroom experts Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther bring a practical and playful approach to helping people quickly and confidently identify the mushrooms of British Columbia. Common names trump technical terminology, fungi are grouped by overall shape, and written descriptions of more than 350 common species are reinforced with carefully curated diagnostic images. This is the go-to guidebook for anyone, amateur or expert, who loves to study, draw, photograph and eat BC mushrooms. In 2026 the authors made hundreds of updates to scientific names in the guide, driven largely by advances in genomic sequencing. Approximately 10% of the names used in this text have been revised--most in minor ways, though some required more significant changes. A small number of photographs have also been replaced.

Author Biography

Andy MacKinnon is a forest ecologist and the co-author of six best-selling books about plants of western North America, including Plants of Coastal British Columbia. For several decades he has co-taught university undergraduate forest ecology field courses in Bamfield and Tofino and Haida Gwaii. He's an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and a retired Professional Forester and Professional Biologist. Andy completed his MSc in mycology in 1982 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by SFU in 2013. He's past president of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society. Kem Luther is the former dean of Sheridan College's joint program in communication, culture, and information technology at the University of Toronto. He grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills, studied at Cornell, the University of Chicago (PhD), York University, and the University of Toronto (MSc), and has been on the faculties of several Ontario universities and colleges. Since the 1990s he has focused on writing interpretive articles and books. He has lived in Metchosin, British Columbia, since 2005.