How to Identify Fungi Mushrooms in the Wild
The mushroom is the "fruit" of certain fungi, having evolved to enable the fungi to produce spores (the fungal equivalent of seeds) in large numbers. According to David Fischer, author of "Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America," there are at least 10,000 species of mushrooms in North America, with 250 known to be edible. Accurately identifying mushrooms involves a careful and thorough investigation, especially if you plan on eating them. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Mushroom field guide
- Notebook
- Pen or pencil
- Clear plastic transparency sheet
- Glass jar or bowl
- Microscope (optional)
Instructions
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Purchase a comprehensive mushroom field guide such as the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms" or "Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: a Field-to-kitchen Guide."
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Plan your mushroom hunt shortly after a heavy rainfall when mushrooms will be growing in abundance.
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Collect responsibly and take only a fourth to half of the mushrooms you find, leaving the rest for animals and reproduction.
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Study each specimen thoroughly, noting its size, color, odor, form of growth, habitat and the time of year. Consider all of these details together for the most accurate identification and write them down in a notebook before referring to any field guides.
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Avoid identifying a mushroom based only on matching it to a picture.
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Make a spore print to help identify a mushroom by cutting off its stalk and placing the cap right side up on top of a clear plastic sheet. Cover it with a jar or bowl overnight and then examine the millions of colored spores it has left on the plastic sheet the next day.
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Cross-reference when you think you have identified a mushroom. Make sure that descriptions and characteristics match up in more than one reference source.
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Tips & Warnings
Take a wild mushroom identification class offered through a college or local nature group.
Never ingest a wild mushroom unless it has been identified by an expert mycologist.
