Collecting Mushrooms for Science

In the field

Photographing Mushrooms

Take photographs of the mushroom where you found it. This is important because some features like color or delicate tissue may change or degrade, to capture information about the habitat, and to attach GPS coordinates to your image.

Before collecting

• Take photographs of the mushroom in place, before digging it up/removing it.

• If your fungus is dirty, gently clean it before photographing it.

After removing

• Dig the specimen up gently using a knife or trowel, make sure to get bulb/volva/root if present.

• Photograph the specimen from multiple angles: top, side and underside (gills/pores).

• For some genera it is important to cut the stipe vertically and photograph

• Photograph staining, bruising and oozing of cap, stipe, and gills, noting initial color and changes.

• Photograph multiple growth stages if available and in one image if possible

• Stand back and photograph the habitat; include an image of bark and leaves if you cannot identify major trees or shrubs nearby.

• Size: photograph the mushroom with a field data slip, which has metric scales on two edges -- or with a ruler (6 inch rulers with metric scales are handy).

• Put each specimen (or several of the same species collected in the same spot) into a separate bag in your basket or compartment in your tackle box (essential for reducing contamination during sequencing).

Recording Info

Field data slips are optional. Why use them?

• To associate photos with collected specimens when you get back home, for identification and for adding description information to iNaturalist & Mushroom Observer. 

• To improve photo-documentation skills by providing an ever-present checklist in the field of what to pay attention to and photograph.

• To capture size information.

• To associate photos with specimens after drying, if you plan on sequencing or vouchering.

How to get the iNaturalist observation number in the field

This especially helpful for group projects if you are using the iNaturalist app in the field (and have cell service):

• Take a photo of the specimen and upload it to iNaturalist.

• Click on the photo and the image will show up at the top of your screen

• In the upper right corner of that image, touch the little "share" symbol.

• Select the email icon; the permanent number is at the end of the URL that is now pasted in an email.  Write this down and delete the email.

• Take more photos, edit and upload them at home.

Record information

Using field data slips and/or maintaining a notebook are not required but add to the scientific value of your collections as well as ease of organization. Many mycologists complete their descriptions at home. 

Note these features in the field or from your photographs

• Substrate the mushroom was growing from (ground, wood species, etc.).

• Trees nearby for soil-dwelling mushrooms.

• Changes to flesh color on exposure to air, handling or breaking. 

• If a cut oozes a fluid, record its color and how it changes in a few minutes.

• Results of chemical tests.

Describe these features

• Odor Scratch or break a fungus or sniff the gills near the stipe (best done when the fungus is fresh).

• Taste Experienced mycologists taste a small bit of cap flesh on the tip of the tongue and spit it out. Don’t try this until you recognize common poisonous species.

• Texture note whether tough, fragile, crumbly, etc. If there are enough fruiting bodies, twist or snap a stipe to see how it breaks.