Beatrix Potter was obsessed with fungi – and she was quite the naturalist

Beatrix Potter's animal illustrations are distinctive, but she was also an established naturalist. SvetaArtStore/Shutterstock Before I became a mycologist, I knew Beatrix Potter as the author of some of my favourite childhood books. It was only years later that I learned she was also a serious student of fungi. The discovery delighted me, but also surprised me. Delighted because one of my childhood heroes had suddenly become a scientific one too. Surprised because mushrooms barely feature in…