Identifying wild mushrooms

The first step in being able to correctly identify mushrooms is knowing your way around a mushroom. You need to know what features to look for when you're looking at fungus. These features are explained in the visual appearance section.

The appearance of the mushroom is not the only consideration for identification, where the mushroom was found also needs to be taken into consideration. You need to be able to describe the habitat in which you find it.

Sometimes mushrooms have a distinctive Smell or Taste that can help to point the species.

A final test that can be done at home to confirm a field identification is to take a spore print. This is done to see the colour of the spores themselves.

Habitat of wild mushrooms

Features to note about the environments in which you find mushrooms.

Smell and taste of wild mushrooms

Using smell and taste to help identify mushrooms.

Spore prints

How to take the spore print of a mushroom and how to use the spore print to help in mushroom identification.

Visual characteristics of wild mushrooms

A description of the standard mushroom identification features.