Why should a fungus be named for a toad? Toads are not known to eat fungi, nor do they share any behavioral, biological, or ecological traits. Toads certainly do not seem to view fungi as stools. So when considering the case of this curious nomenclature, there is little apparent logic. however, this decidedly odd coupling appears all over the world, on every continent save Antarctica, and in a bewildering number of cultures across a staggering span of time.

So what's in a name? Plenty--according to artist and scholar Adrian Morgan, who has spent twelve years collecting, studying, drawing, painting, observing, and eating his subjects. The result is an astonishing compendium of art history, cultural anthropology, pharmacology, herpetology, micology--and serious conjecture. A felicitous pairing of art and nature, Toads and Toadstools is as much a feast for the eye as the intellect.