Guide to edible mushrooms?

I've found shaggy parasol in my orchard (did the spore prints and they came out white, which is said to distinguish this species from its one poisonous relative . . .and that relative has not been reported in NZ). There have been reports of tummy upsets from shaggy parasol, but most sources consider it very tasty. I'll risk a tummy upset, but not nerve poisoning. I also see and some sort of Agaric (a genus that is safe eating and great tasting) springing up in the neighbor's lawn and around town. I've done a little mushrooming in Europe and the US, but am still a bit timid about eating things I find, though I'm pretty confident I've got them identified correctly.

Can anyone recommend a good guide to the safe species found here in NZ? I guess most sources are loathe to recommend eating for fear of being held liable if someone eats something and it goes wrong . . . still, hoping maybe there is an old source somewhere from the days before everyone worried about being held liable.

Country Calendar did a feature about mushrooms which was very interesting. Might be worth seeking them out. Mushrooms

Had a look at the Country Calendar piece. The Swiss couple remind me of the old couple I rented from in Germany, shortly after re-unification. Like most East Germans, they suffered under Hitler, then under Stalin, and knew everything there was to know about finding food in the forest. They took me out mushrooming a few times, then sent me out on my own and checked over my basket, telling me what was 'gut' and what was 'nicht gut', and, occasionally, 'giftig' (poisonous). In their opinion, a proper mushroom dish should have at least 10 species. So hard to find that sort of guidance elsewhere.

I fried up a few of the shaggy parasol's, and they were tasty (the olive oil, butter, and garlic helped). Fingers crossed on getting sick. The guy who delivers our junk mail was picking what I think are agarics off the neighbor's lawn for eating, so I guess these are at least partially confirmed as edible.

There was a book written some years ago I think called "A Guide to Fungi in NZ". It had pictures and descriptions but so many looked the same I couldn't tell the difference between the ones with a knife and fork logo and the ones with a skull! Some deadly NZ fungi look so similar to safe European and Asian species that even an expert can have trouble telling them apart by eye.

Landcare does have a guide to mushrooms with a simple key with links to loads of google images (and you can find more about the species in question by following the links on the images). They label some things as poisonous, and a few things as edible or even edible and good. Interesting, they don't list the boletes mentioned in the Country Calendar piece.

fungalguide.landcareresearch.co.nz/WebFo...FG_StaticGroups.aspx

What I call shaggy parasol is very clearly Chlorophyllum rachodes (I did the spore print test and they were white)
fungalguide.landcareresearch.co.nz/WebFo...lorophyllum&pk=24747
Other sources say this is great eating but has been known to cause stomach upsets. So far just a fart or two and no saying the mushrooms caused it.