I wish I could provide you with the botanical names for all the species of mushrooms in this selection from my photographic mushroom collection, but I can't for two reasons. The first reason is that I don't know them all, and the second reason is that mycologists have been busy reclassifying fungi and changing names since my once-excellent reference books were written. I try to keep up to date on lots of things, but mushroom nomenclature is not at the top of my list. So, if you're "in the know," please forgive any naming error.

So, I offer these images to tantalize both photographers and mushroom foragers. If you are already hooked, you know that researching mushrooms, especially edible and/or psychedelic varieties, can become "an experience."

Most species can be found all around the world, as mushroom spores travel in the Jet Stream and the Trade Winds. (The Trade Winds are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The Trade Winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.)

As a result, I’ve photographed the distinctive, beautiful, and quite poisonous Amanita muscaria in South Island, New Zealand, in New Brunswick, and elsewhere, so I'll start with it. The first image was made in Christchurch, the second in southern Ontario. The colour variation is influenced by the location. (I made all the photographs with no specified location at Shamper's Bluff.)