In 1951, he became assistant to Dr R.W.G. Dennis, head of mycology at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. On his retirement in 1975, Derek Reid took over his position and remained at Kew till his own retirement in 1987. Derek Reid was a naturalist and enthusiastic field mycologist, leading regular fungus forays in his native Bedfordshire for over 40 years, as well as tutoring fungus identification courses at Field Studies Centres, and evening classes at the University of London. He published a popular field guide to British mushrooms and toadstools in 1980. He was also able to travel far more widely than his predecessors at Kew, visiting and collecting fungi in continental Europe, the United States, the West Indies, Australia, and South Africa. His particular interest in South African fungi led to several joint papers with his fellow mycologist Prof. Albert Eicker at the University of Pretoria. In 1989, after his retirement from Kew, Reid stayed for some while in Pretoria, as Visiting Professor at the university. Derek Reid's main interest was in the taxonomy of fungi, especially the Basidiomycota. He published over 200 papers on British and overseas species, mostly on agarics but also on heterobasidiomycetes, gasteromycetes, and other macrofungi, describing many new species. Several fungal species have been named after him, including Volvariella reidii, Peniophora reidii, and the common European waxcapHygrocybe reidii.
Selected publications
Reid, D.A.. New or interesting records of Australasian basidiomycetes. Kew Bulletin 1955: 631–648
Reid, D.A.. A monograph of the stipitate stereoid fungi. 388 pp., 50 pls
Reid, D.A.. A monograph of the British Dacrymycetales. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 62: 433–494
Reid, D.A.. Some gasteromycetes from Trinidad and Tobago. Kew Bulletin 31: 657–690
Reid, D.A.. Mushrooms and toadstools. London: Kingfisher
Reid, D.A.. New or interesting records of British heterobasidiomycetes. Mycological Research 94: 94–108
Reid, D.A. & Eicker, A.. A taxonomic survey of the genus Montagnea with special reference to South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 57: 161–170
