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How to Take Mushroom Spore Prints and Why You Should

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Emma Gallagher is a Brit living in North Carolina. She grows organic gardens and... Read More

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We are mostly well aware that plants flowers, go to seed, and shed their seeds across the earth in the hope of creating the next generation. But maybe fewer are aware that mushrooms do something very similar.

Have you ever bought mushrooms and left them in their bag a little too long only to notice a strange dusting or stain on that bag? Well, this dusting is the spores or ‘seed’ of the mushroom.

One mushroom can produce billions of tiny spores in a day. These spores disperse, connect, and as long as they are in a good environment, grow to become the next generation of mushrooms.

These spores, though individually invisible to the human eye, when in a concentrated amount can be seen as a dusting with various colors to behold depending on the type of mushroom.

What is even more fascinating, essential, and integral is that the color of the spores that a mushroom produces can help you to identify a genus or species of mushroom.

Not only is this interesting in its own right, but it is also often vital in correctly identifying mushrooms that you might be foraging for culinary or medicinal use.

Read on to learn a little more about mushroom spores and how to take mushroom spore prints at home.

NEVER consume or use a mushroom medicinally without a 100% certain identification. Seek local expert advice, use several field guides, do cross-references, learn about possible toxic lookalikes, and take spore prints to help you make an identification. If in doubt, throw it out!

More About Spores

Source: Freshcap Mushrooms/YouTube

The spores of a mushroom are normally located on the underside of a mushroom cap amongst the gills, pores, or teeth. These spores are shed in hopes that they land in the perfect spot to promote reproduction. If not, mycelium in the ground will multiply to create new growth.

The amazing thing about spores is that they are unique to each species of mushroom. They come in all different colours from black to green to brown to lilac.

If you have two mushrooms that look almost identical to the eyes, their spores might be of an entirely different color, and this could be the key to making a correct identification.

Why Take a Spore Print?

You might have found some mushrooms that you are 99% certain about. You know 99% isn’t ever good enough, so you start researching. You find that this mushroom has an uncanny lookalike.

The only real way of knowing between the two is to take a spore print. It might be that if the print is brown, you win. If it’s green, thumbs down. Throw it out.

This is all to say that it can be an extremely important step in getting a true identification of a mushroom.

The other cool thing is that spore prints can be stunning and make really fun art as long as you know exactly what mushroom you are using and that you know it is safe.

How to Take a Spore Print

Source: Trillium: Wild Edibles/YouTube

Note- to be extra safe, ESPECIALLY if you don’t know what mushroom you are handling, wear gloves to protect your hands from potential toxic spores.

1. Choose a fully mature mushroom. This will ensure that it will have enough spores to drop onto a surface. Try not to choose one that is too old and dried up as this will not give a really clear spore print.

2. Transport your mushrooms in a container that will allow them to breathe. A paper bag or basket is perfect.

3. Since some spore prints are dark in color and others are white, you will need a couple of different colors of paper. If you have more than one mushroom, place one gill-, pore- or tooth-side down onto a piece of white paper and one onto a piece of black or dark-colored paper.

If you only have one mushroom, try to place the cap half on white paper and half on dark paper.

4. Once you have placed your mushroom cap well, you will need to get a glass or clear plastic container that is big enough to cover the mushroom cap completely. This part is important as it will help to contain the spores in that area alone.

5. Leave this set up alone for several hours- overnight if possible. When you are ready, with gloves, lift the container and set it aside, and gently lift the mushroom.

You should see an image that has been created by all of those tiny spores dropping onto the paper.

6. Since they are organic, these spores will degrade over time, so you will want to take note of the color of the spore immediately. Next, cross reference, research, and consult local fungi experts and groups to determine which mushroom you have found.

Though this article gives tips for taking spore prints, there is a lot more that goes into identifying mushrooms. Taking a spore print is only ONE step in identifying a type of mushroom. Do thorough research and use identification keys to help you make the right ID.

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