A modern checklist of Basidiomycetes - not just Agarics and Boleti, but all the other basidiomycetes too - Puffballs, Brackets, Resupinates, Jelly Fungi, Rusts, Smuts and even basidiomycete Yeasts, totalling 3,670 species.

The project remit was to base the list on specimens in the Kew and Edinburgh herbaria. Due to time constraints, this meant using the labels on packets - there was insufficient time to examine the contents in all but a few cases.

Supersedes the 1960 New Checklist (NCL) of Dennis, Orton and Hora, which just covered Agarics and Boleti.

During preparation of this checklist, fungal classification was in a state of flux due to DNA work. Consequently the classification was taken from the 8th edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi (Hawksworth et al, 1995) as this offered the most recent morphology-based classification.

As well as the taxonomic part, the short species accounts cover distribution, frequency, habitat and associated hosts.

The checklist is acompanied by a database which is to continue to be updated. The database is published on the web, and there may be future paper editions.

In the rust descriptions, the quoted stages (0,I,II,III) are often contrary to Wilson & Henderson. Eg *Puccinia smyrni* doesn’t have uredia, although it is quoted as "0, I, II & III".

(The present authors worked on the principle that the spore types must be present to complete the life-cycle, even if they aren’t apparent.)