The book serves as a practical and taxonomic guide to edible and poisonous mushrooms of central Europe, combining an introduction to fungal biology and morphology with detailed species accounts arranged by families and genera. It provides instructions for collecting, preparing, conserving, and cooking specimens, and is illustrated with numerous color plates for diagnostic comparison. Special sections cover gilled fungi, boletes, puffballs, cup fungi, morels and truffles, and appendices include systematic listings and alphabetical indexes of scientific and vernacular names to assist field identification.