This book is an effort to throw light on the results of exploration, collections, investigations, and studies carried on the mycoflora by different mycologists time-to-time from east to west and tropical to alpine regions of the Nepalese Himalayan territory. The review is based on the publications available at hand.

The most important feature of the book is that it includes up-to-date information on published reports about Nepalese fungi. It includes more than 520 published papers accumulated since the contribution of Llyod (1808) and Berkely (1839), which no one had compiled prior. The papers mostly embrace the taxonomic, ethnomycological, pathological, biogeographic, or ecological distribution pattern and mycorrhizal mycofloras. Papers related to the molecular phylogeny of Nepalese mycoflora have also been incorporated.

Key Discoveries Documented:

The book reveals the presence of 608 genera and 2,025 species, falling under 60 orders and 80 families, including 5 monotypic taxa and 192 new species.

The book is divided into 4 core chapters:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Brief account on published literatures
  • Chapter 3: Fungi proposed from Nepal (monotypic and endemic) and changes in nomenclature
  • Chapter 4: References and Index

It also incorporates maps of the routes followed and photographs of the researchers (Japanese, French, American, German, Indian, Nepalese, etc.). The groupings and sub-groupings of the subject matters are organized chronologically based on the origin of contributors and their contributions, so that one can easily find the required information without going through the whole book. Moreover, the book is presented in an easy-to-read style.

According to the author, this work was undertaken to address the following objectives:

  • To overcome the difficulty in accessing previously published literatures.
  • To aggregate the aspects of researches and reports published on Nepalese fungi.
  • To establish a baseline so researchers know about fungi reported earlier from Nepal before reporting a "new" fungus.
  • To prevent the duplication of work in publication of the taxa concerned and the results of investigation.

This comprehensive record will help to produce the definitive 'Mycoflora of Nepal' in the future and will prove beneficial to researchers, planners, students, amateurs, the mycophagous society, medicinal industries, and related professionals.

Prof. Guy Durrieu, the French mycologist, has written the 'Preface', while Prof. Yoshitaka Ono, the Japanese mycologist, has provided the 'Foreword' to the book.