Is Mushroom Identification Easy?
The problem is that there are just so many mushroom species that no easy-to-use field guide can cover them all. The problem is compounded by the fact that mushroom spores can travel for hundreds, even thousands, of miles on wind currents, so any truly comprehensive mushroom field guide would have to include species usually found only far away. When I find a new mushroom, my picture-filled field guide called Mushrooms of North America, by Orson Miller, Jr., despite its impressive name, provides an identification in which I have confidence much less than half the time. In mushroom identification there’s one particularly interesting technique worth giving special mention to. It relates to the fact that different mushroom species produce different-colored spores! Some species produce white ones, others black, brown, rusty, smoky-gray, salmon, pink, or even yellowish or green spores! Spore color is invaluable in mushroom identification. Unfortunately, usually you can’t just sit down next to
