How to Make a Spore Print

Mushroom spores are the tiny particles that mushrooms use to reproduce. Although spores are too small to be seen with the naked eye, making a spore print allows you to see the color of the spores. It is also one way to identify different types of mushrooms, since each type has its own unique spore print.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mushrooms
• A sharp knife
• Dark and light paper
• A large glass jar

1. Choose a mature mushroom. Young mushrooms and button mushrooms do not drop enough spores to create good spore prints.

2. Slice the stem off the mushroom. Be careful not to damage the mushroom's gills or your spore print will not be accurate.

3. Place the mushroom on the paper, gill side down. The gills are the thin vertical lines under the mushroom cap where the spores are stored. This will allow the spores to fall onto the paper.

4. Set the glass jar over the mushroom. This will prevent even a slight breeze from moving the spores and disturbing your print.

5. Let it sit. Leave the mushroom, jar and paper undisturbed overnight. This will ensure that enough spores have dropped from the mushroom to make a lovely print.

6. Remove the jar and mushroom carefully, to avoid smudging the print, and admire your work. If you want to save your spore print, cover it carefully with clear contact paper.

Tips & Warnings

• It will take some experimentation to know whether to use dark or light colored paper. Initially, if you have two mushrooms of the same kind, you can do prints on both dark and light paper.