"The sun might rule a bird's or frog's day, but can a fungus tell time?" queries ecologist and photographer Alison Pouliot in Mushroom Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Fungal Lives.
Across a full day, Pouliot showcases an hour in the lives of 24 fungus species worldwide. Each chapter is filled with fascinating information about that mushroom's biology, lore, and interconnectedness with human life. London-based artist Stuart Patience masterfully illustrates the fungi with pen and ink.
The survey begins at night, in Europe, with the rare midnight disco. Unlike most fungi, which produce mushrooms in the fall, the midnight disco yields its sporing bodies in the spring and summer, making it susceptible to environmental changes. Mentioning this prompts Pouliot to explain the Global Fungal Red List and the particular conservation challenges faced by fungi. Midday finds Pouliot "stop[ping] for lunch" in southern France, with the medicinally important Penicillium roqueforti, and he highlights the role of the microfungus, or mold, in cheesemaking.
Pouliot's journey winds down with an evening trip to North America to meet the red-green truffle milky, and examine the luxury business of truffle harvesting. Finally, circling back to near midnight, Pouliot explores the enchanting folklore of witches cauldron mushrooms, expounding on why this fungus is a useful indicator of environmental change or, as she puts it, "a clairvoyant or seer" that "might tell us something about the future."
Like the "eerie pale-green glow of the ghost fungus," which "will draw you in like a moth to a flame," Pouliot's passion and expertise have created a captivating work that will entice seasoned mycophiles, foragers, and the mushroom-curious. --Grace Rajendran, freelance reviewer