5 Steps to Identify a Mushroom (Using Spore Prints)

A concise but useful intro into mushroom identification, aimed at showing enthusiasts, foragers, and novice mushroom hunters a basic overview on where to start.

Step 1. Buy a reliable mushroom field guide, such as National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Mushrooms.
Step 2. Familiarize yourself with the risks and dangers of lookalikes, including deadly gallerina and the dangers of little brown mushrooms.
Step 3. Consider the setting, when, where, why? Photograph the habitat.
Step 4. CONFIRM your suspicions by taking a spore print and organizing a data sheet of physical characteristics.
Step 5. Strut your spiel, and flex those descriptive adjectives.

With these simple steps, you already know more about mushroom identification than 95% of the general population :-) and REMEMBER, there are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but THERE ARE NO OLD, BOLD MUSHROOM HUNTERS. #projectpolypore