There are lots of ways to enjoy mushrooms. You can put them on your pizza, hunt for them in the woods, study them under a microscope, or make art with them. Mushrooms are fungi. Fungi make their food by eating dead leaves and wood (organic matter). They can not make their food from the sun like plants because they do not have any chlorophyll. In order to make more mushrooms, a mushroom will make tiny spores. These are produced on the undersides of the cap. When the conditions are right, a mushroom will release the spores from the gills. The spores will fall down and be carried away by a breeze. When the spores land, if the conditions are right, each spore will make another mushroom. Identification of mushrooms can be very difficult. Mushrooms are not like birds or wildflowers, where everything you see was described and named some time ago. Beyond the basic features of mushroom structure, size and habitat, the most important characteristic of a mushroom to know for its identification is its spore color. Moreover, making a “spore print” for determining spore color is something fun and interesting to do. To make a spore print, select your mushroom, preferably one that is fresh and undamaged. Decide whether the spore color is light or dark. The color of the gills may give you some clues. Select a piece of card, white or black depending on the selection as outlined above. Aluminum foil works well to. Remove the stalk from the mushroom and place it gill side down on the piece of card or foil. Place a jar over the top. This helps to keep it moist as well stopping any air movement dispersing the spores. While some spore prints can appear within a few hours, it’s often best to wait overnight, just to be sure. When you remove the cup and lift the mushroom cap, you should find a “print.” If you have been careful not to move the mushroom you will find that the spore print reflects the pattern of the mushroom’s gills or pores.
