The spore print is the powdery deposit obtained by allowing spores of a fungal fruit body to fall onto a surface underneath. It is an important diagnostic character in most handbooks for identifying mushrooms. It shows the colour of the mushroom spores if viewed en masse.
A spore print is made by placing the spore-producing surface flat on a sheet of dark and white paper or on a sheet of clear, stiff plastic, which facilitates moving the spore print to a darker or lighter surface for improved contrast; for example, it is easier to determine whether the spore print is pure white or, rather, very slightly pigmented. The mushroom is left for several hours, often overnight, in this manner. Some guides advise using a moisture-resistant enclosure, like a glass or jar, to contain the mushroom during printing. If the mushroom is to be preserved, a small hole can be made in the spore print paper rather than cutting the stipe. When the mushroom is removed, the colour of the spores should be visible. Mycologists often use glass slides, which allow for quick examination of spores under a microscope. A mushroom cannot be identified from its spore print alone; the spore print is only one characteristic used in making a taxonomic determination. Spore prints are usually white to cream, black, or shades of red, purple, or brown. The poisonous false parasol (Chlorophyllum molybdites) has a green spore deposit. Although the spore print is generally used to help identify the genus of a specimen, on occasion it can be used to help distinguish between similar species. For example, the lookalikes Russula crustosa and Russula virescens have yellowish and white spore deposits, respectively.
In the field, spore print colour can sometimes be quickly determined by examining the top of stipes for spore "dust" on the nearby forest floor.
Collecting and examination of a spore print is not always successful. Some mushrooms are too young or too old to produce spores. Mushrooms collected at high elevations will typically not produce a spore print at lower elevations.
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Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom foraging, and similar terms describe the activity of gathering mushrooms in the wild, typically for culinary use, though medicinal and psychotropic uses are also known. This practice is popular throughout most of Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea, parts of the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, as well as the temperate regions of Canada and the United States. Morphological characteristics of the caps of mushroom, such as those illustrated in the accompanying chart, are essential for correct visual mushroom identification.
A fungus (: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms, which, by one traditional classification, includes Plantae, Animalia, Protozoa, and Chromista. A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some protists is chitin in their cell walls.
Agaricus bisporus is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Eurasia and North America. It has two color states while immature – white and brown – both of which have various names, with additional names for the mature state. A. bisporus is cultivated in more than 70 countries and is one of the most commonly and widely consumed mushrooms in the world. The pileus or cap of the original wild species is a pale grey-brown, with broad, flat scales on a paler background and fading toward the margins.
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