There are those who make and collect spore-prints purely as a kind of art. Spore prints are often beautiful, or at least interesting to look at, because they show not only the spore color (which can be lovely shades of red, green, white, black, or almost anything else) but also the pattern made by the arrangement of gills, pores, or whatever other spore-production structures the species in question has. The spore-printing technique is the only effective way to gather fungal spores, so cultivators who wish to start from wild-collected spores begin by making spore-prints. ![]() But there are other, less dire, reasons as well. There are edible species that resemble poisonous ones in almost all respects except spore color, so foragers especially really do need to get in the habit of making prints. The most important reason to make spore prints is to check the color for identification purposes. The only way to discover the color is to collect a large number of spores just as they come out of the fruiting body-making a spore print, in other words. They are too small to see individually without a microscope, and microscopes don’t show color very well. ![]() Spores are the tiny, dust-like particles fungi (and a number of other organisms, from slime molds to ferns) use to propagate themselves, just as most plants use seeds. It’s a fascinating hobby, and it’s absolutely critical for reliable identification. Anyone who becomes serious about mushroom identification-and quite a few whose interest is more casual-will first want a mushroom field guide and then naturally progress to mushroom spore prints.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |