The 10 Best Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guides (2023 reviews)

We consider a wild mushroom identification field guide to be a worthy investment in the long run. We are here to help you choose the right one for your needs from all the best available products in market today.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: National Audubon Society Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For New foragers: Buy: Karl B MCKNIGHT Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For macro fungi: Buy: Noah Siegel Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For foraging In New England: Buy: Teresa Marrone Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For Southern foragers: Buy: Todd F Elliott Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For identifying Mushrooms: Buy: Teresa Marrone Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For budding Mushroom enthusiast: Buy: Lincoff Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For PA: Buy: Bill Russell Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best For The Pacific Northwest: Buy: Bleu Sayles Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide READ REVIEW

Best little Book: Buy: Bleu Sayles Great Book READ REVIEW

Best Overall: National Audubon Society Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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The latest national audubon society wild mushroom identification field guide is an absolute beast in terms of its features, and rightfully takes the top spot with ease. It is perfect for your day pack or tote bag. It points readers to the appropriate descriptions that include notes on range, emergence timing, and habitat which can help one narrow down identification among a suite of possibilities. The glossy, high-quality plates are arranged systematically and very clearly refer the user to the pertinent comprehensive text descriptions.

This one, like a few, can be carried into the field while the larger, more definitive guides await at home, or in the car. It is easy to use and contains a ton of information. The book is well organized so that it is easy to find mushrooms depending on traits.

• Very concise information and great colour pictures
• Very good for people who are learning, very nice colour pictures
• Great pictures and makes it easy to identify

Best For New foragers: Karl B MCKNIGHT Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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If you are currently in the market looking for a reliable guide for your daily usage, you cannot go wrong with the karl b mcknight wild mushroom identification field guide. There are many mushroom guides in print, as culinary interests in these fungal fruiting bodies grows. It can be used as a guide when hunting and collecting eatibles. This is a good reference guide for eatible fungi. The illustrations are stunning and the organization is simple and straight forward.

The book itself is small and easy to carry out into the field as well. The diagram included to help identify shrooms is excellent. It's compact due to the fact that it provides only the most pertinent information for mushroom identification and edibility. It's easy to carry out into the field as well.

• Beautiful drawings and lots of information
• New and interesting way to identify fungi in the field
• Thoughtfully laid out and pleasurable to use
• Illustrations are detailed and well done

Best For macro fungi: Noah Siegel Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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Noah Siegel is known for creating pragmatic and minimalist guide for people on the go, and its line of noah siegel wild mushroom identification field guide definitely falls in line with that reputation. With the current interest in mushroom collecting, this large, beautiful, organized book is perfect for beginners and experienced mushroom collectors alike. It includes current species names and has tons of awesome information. It gives awesome facts on edibility, source, and identification of each mushroom. While there is a focus on the "redwood coast" this book contains information and descriptions on mushrooms that can be found across the west, and also ones that are very common in the Pacific Northwest.

This book will be a helpful guide to identifying and understanding mushrooms of the coastal california area. It has beautiful photos and all the info you need to help you with mushroom identification. The descriptions are extremely detailed and written very carefully to facilitate identification. The quality of the content and pictures is the best.

• Big and heavy but definetly wonderful
• Fantastic book for mushroom reference and discovery
• Good brand reputation

Best For foraging In New England: Teresa Marrone Field Guide

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Best part: teresa marrone field guide costs comparatively low and it is available to ship in 24 hours. If you go out foraging than this book should be in your pocket or car, it will help you learn about the mushrooms you want to eat and the one you should stay away from. The Top Edible and Top Toxics sections are clever & useful. The descriptions of each mushroom makes it easy.

The pictures are sharp, it’s a perfect size to carry around and it’s very informative. The color pictures are excellent at helping to cut through some of the'mushroom blindness' people experience when they first start thinking about looking for mushrooms. The categories for each page are excellent too, and the'similar-looking species' section is absolutely critical for eliminating possible look-alikes. This is a great book for mushroom hunting.

• Simple guide, fits in pocket well
• Shows the edible mushrooms in the north east with colored pictures
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Southern foragers: Todd F Elliott Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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Compared with other guide in this category, the todd f elliott wild mushroom identification field guide has a convenient design. These beautiful color images are great for identifying your mushroom. It is composed of more rolling hills than the coastal plain. Even if you do not have a microscope, and are not conversant with technical language, the book is excellent for mushroom ID. It features alone and a nice summary of features that includes how edible they are.

It is recommended by folks in an on-line foraging group. It includes a glossary and index for easy referencing/cross referencing as well as a small tape measure across the back of the cover to get quick measurements. The back contains a very nice glossary in addition to the index.

• Excellent book for the fungi hunter
• An essential guidebook for mushroom hunting, the perfect social distancing sport
• New and hot release

Best For identifying Mushrooms: Teresa Marrone Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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Teresa Marrone offers a variety of guide for personal choice and yet maintaining quality in all the variants. It has LOADS of mushrooms. It’s got sections on the front for the most common edibles and toxic/poisonous mushrooms in the area. It’s small enough that you can fit it in a jacket pocket, but holds the necessary information you need in the woods.

The photographs are excellent in this book, the descriptions are detailed, and each includes important identification features like spore print color, texture, and reaction to bruising. These are moderately stout and typically wider at the base, which often is surrounded by whitish mycelium (threadlike fungal filaments) that may be visible in the growing substrate. The color of the edges of the pages tell you if a particular mushroom is edible or a different category. It’s an excellent companion to a more detailed guide.

• Shows potential look alikes to help prevent identification mistakes
• A valuable guide to mushroom hunters
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For budding Mushroom enthusiast: Lincoff Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention lincoff wild mushroom identification field guide for daily purpose. The common cultivated mushroom is something that is, essentially, a condiment. It does give much information about mushrooms in different countries and their uses for food and medicine. It takes the time to delve into each mushroom it covers, and passengers the information in a way that makes it easy to find what you are looking for. There is recipes, crafts & more.

This book is great for both beginners and experienced mushroom hunters. It has a wealth of information from ID, season, range, harvest, preparation, and preparation of the best edible mushrooms to fun and entertaining anecdotes from Mr. Lincoff's vast mushrooming experience. There is even a recipe section at the back of the book.

• Great book for anyone interested in mushrooms & mushrooming
• Compréhensive overview and packed with great photos and info
• Has good recommendations on cooking and preperation
• Intellectually stimulating and begs to be finished

Best For PA: Bill Russell Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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The bill russell wild mushroom identification field guide is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. This is an amazing field guide as a beginner in the field. Although this field guide has relatively small color photos for each species, it makes up for with an extensive descriptive text that goes with it. It really helps narrow things down and is one more aid to help the non-scientist with mushroom identification. It provides good insight on what to look for and things to avoid.

This is a good book to help to identify edible and poisonous mushrooms. It could have more mushrooms in it. The book is very well written and due to it's size is useful to take into the woods during foraging outings.

• Technical terms are concisely explained with clear, easy to understand layman's language
• Good book to take on mushroom hunts
• New and hot release

Best For The Pacific Northwest: Bleu Sayles Wild Mushroom Identification Field Guide

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The bleu sayles wild mushroom identification field guide should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This is a lovely book for beginner mushroom hunters, especially if you want to learn how to eat what you find. It includes identification and cooking preparations for 47 pnw mushrooms, broken down by season. It is targeted to edible mushrooms, their toxic lookalikes, and the main conclusive details to tell them apart. This guide helps immensely to know what is safe for beginners and what to be cautious about.

This is particularly great for beginners. It is well written, well researched, and has great visuals of the local fungi it discusses.

• Excellent and easy to read guide
• Nice addition to your mushroom library and cookbooks
• A must have for those interested in mushroom foraging
• A wide variety of species covered

Best little Book: Bleu Sayles Great Book

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The bleu sayles great book is the best suitable guide on the market today. It's a fantastic foraging mushroom book. It includes pictures, and even recipes. It is another winner for a promising foraging series. It is easy to write a book that is information-intensive. This book has a lot of different recipes for the mushrooms. It’s a really nice reference but it also offers so much more about each mushroom. It is a great beginner's mushroom foraging guide.

• Each chapter is similarly arranged, and similarly well crafted
• Good for anyone starting to learn about mushrooms
• Good brand reputation