Page 217 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

omy, such as the ring on a species’ stem, can easily fall close or distant they are to each other, may also be
off or be destroyed. Collecting a representative sam- important clues. Include these observations in your
ple of mushrooms can improve your chances of get- notes.
ting the full scope of evidence you need for accurate Keep Them Fresh; Keep Them Organized
identification.
You are going to want to get your mushrooms home as
With this said, never assume that the mushrooms you
quickly as possible while they are still fresh. Don’t use
find all belong to the same species, just because they
plastic bags to transport your findings because plastic
are growing together in the same area. Similar-look-
will cause mushrooms to sweat, thereby speeding up
ing mushrooms, including poisonous and edible ones,
the decaying process. The old-school method of care-
do grow together. Always identify individual mush-
fully wrapping your mushrooms in waxed paper, or
rooms case by case. Always obtain an expert opinion.
placing them in open wax-coated paper bags, is still
And if in doubt, throw it out.
Make Notes on Site the best one. Keep your mushrooms in separate, la-
beled packages to avoid confusing them, and use a
Mushroom identification always begins on site. Once basket to transport them.
a mushroom is picked, it will begin to decay. Deteri- Always Make a Spore Print
oration will cause the specimen’s shape, color, and
texture to change - more quickly and dramatically in The size, shape, features, and color of a mushroom’s
some species than in others. By documenting your spores are all valuable information for mushroom
mushroom’s appearance right away, you’ll ensure that identification. While not everyone has a microscope
you have a reliable, permanent record of its features. at home, everyone can and should be making a spore
You can refer to these notes later when you continue print for each mushroom.
the identification process at home. Spore prints tell us the color of a mushroom’s spores,
Starting from top to bottom, make notes on the mush- which can be a valuable identification feature in dis-
room’s size, anatomy, surface texture, flesh color, tinguishing an edible mushroom from a poisonous
bruising patterns, odor, and other characteristics you look-alike. Make your spore print as soon as possible,
may notice. The color of the mushroom’s exterior is before your specimen starts to dry out or decay.
also important, but don’t rely on it as a primary means Separate the mushroom’s cap from its stem, and place
of identification since color can change depending on the cap spore surface (e.g. gills, pore surface) down on
the mushroom’s age and environment. a sheet of white paper. Note that white spore prints
A second reason for identifying your mushroom on will not easily show up on white paper. As a solution
location is that, in the fungal world, ecology is ev- to this, I like to lay a sheet of black paper halfway over
erything. What surface (substrate) your mushroom a sheet of white paper and position the mushroom
grows on and which plant species it grows near are cap so that it straddles both surfaces. Others prefer
often crucial identification features. Whether your to make their spore prints on a mirror surface. It is
mushroom grows with other mushrooms, and how important not to use colorful or tinted paper since it

Mushrooms on both black and white paper, gills down,
Gills on the underside of a mushroom ready for a spore print, by the author covered by a glass container to obtain spore prints
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