[At the Lawrence Public Library] Book Launch for "A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms"

Originally published in 1993, A Guide to Kansas Mushrooms went out of print in 2017. Original author Richard Kay suggested his wife, Sherry Kay, could assume the undertaking of revising the book, collaborating with him by working as a consultant. After Richard’s death in 2018, Sherry later added two coauthors, Benjamin Sikes and Caleb Morse, to complete the task. Kay, Sikes, and Morse have revised this new edition to account for the variety of ways mycology has changed in the last twenty-five years.

After years of labor, this extensively updated guide is finally ready to be released to the public! Join us at the Lawrence Public Library in celebrating the launch of A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms, a title that lends itself as a primer for beginning foragers just learning about Kansas fungi, and a must-have definitive guide for experienced mushroomers. The launch and subsequent signing will take place at the library on October 4 at 6:30 p.m.

Booksellers from the Raven will be on hand at this library with copies of A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms for sale. (And maybe we'll bump into each other while hunting for morels afterward!)


About the Book

Originally published in 1993, A Guide to Kansas Mushrooms went out of print in 2017. Original author Richard Kay suggested his wife, Sherry Kay, could assume the undertaking of revising the book, collaborating with him working as a consultant. After Richard's death in 2018, Sherry later added two coauthors, Benjamin Sikes and Caleb Morse, to complete the task.

Kay, Sikes, and Morse have revised this new edition to account for the variety of ways mycology has changed in the last twenty-five years, while holding to its original purpose as a guide for active mushroomers. Primarily, A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms highlights the upheaval in taxonomy caused by advances in molecular genetics: an estimated 25 percent of fungal names included in the original guide have changed since 1993. Second, the list of mushrooms found in Kansas has expanded and the new edition will add 50 species to the 150 described in the original guide. All anthology entries have been updated to reflect these changes in the field, and the essays have also been edited, reduced, or expanded to include updated information as well as brand-new material. The outdated genus-level classification of fungi has been replaced by two cladograms--diagrams that illustrate how organisms branch off from their last common ancestors.

This revised edition provides a wealth of new material on Kansas mushrooms that will aid and fascinate both newbies and seasoned mycophiles and includes information on online resources and notes on how to grow mushrooms in Kansas. While the book fully treats 200 species, readers will be able to identify 320 different macrofungi using the keys and discussions. Additionally, the book introduces readers to fascinating, common slime molds (myxomycetes). A New Guide to Kansas Mushrooms incorporates new understanding of fungal taxonomy that has been largely unearthed by genetic tools over the past three decades, highlights key taxa, and includes a life list of the more than 1,200 species now cataloged from Kansas--nearly twice the number known at the time of the first edition.


About the Authors 

Sharon Kay is a field mycologist in Lawrence, Kansas. She has over forty years of experience foraging and researching and served as a former president of the Kaw Valley Mycological Society.

Benjamin Sikes is associate professor and scientist of microbial ecology t the University of Kansas.

Caleb Morse is collection manager for the Division of Botany in the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute.

Event date: 
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Event address: 
707 Vermont Street
Lawrence, KS 66044