| Author | Pegler, D.N., Laessoe, T. & Spooner, B.M. |
| Year | 1995 |
| Title | British Puffballs, Earthstars & Stinkhorns |
| ISBN | 0 947643 81 8 |
| Type | Book/Report |
| How Complete | All the British species of basidiomycete gasteromycetes, including exotics and historical records, known at the time. |
| Source | 255pp, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| Illustrations | A good colour photograph and line drawings of the microscopy accompany each species entry. |
| Review (by Malcolm Storey) | Nicely presented work with very complete descriptions and excellent colour photographs. The introduction contains a useful table of habitat preferences (p11-12). The first key (p19) is to old-style orders and families, but these groups are well known so this will rarely be needed. It is followed by the orders, each with a short account, followed by a key to families, and so on. The final keys to species are followed by very full species accounts with a colour photograph and line drawings of microscopy. |
| Errata, Corrigenda & Comments | Incorrect page numbers in the key on page 19. The same couplet is repeated slightly differently in some keys, eg couplet 2 on p19 is different from its equivalent in the key on page 56. |
| Examine | in the hand in the Hand ( Compound Microscope is also useful) |
| Specimen Preparation | The keys to genera mainly use macroscopic characters, but microscopic examination of spores and capillitium is often required at species level. A wetting agent, eg alcohol or dilute detergent is useful to wet the spores and capillitium. Cotton blue helps to show capillitial characters. |
| Identification difficulty | Mostly straightforward, although Scleroderma, Geastrum and Lycoperdon require care. |
