Agaricus species

No problem! I love sharing!

Pick a mushroom that you want to know the spore colour of. Pick one that the cap is healthy and mature but has not already dispersed its spores. Take it in and cut the stem off as close to the cap as you can without spoiling anything. Place the cap gill side down on a piece of clean paper and leave there for at least a couple hours. Some books say to place a bowl over it, etc but it is not really necessary unless you are afraid it will get disturbed by something. After a few hours, peak under the edge and see if anything is happening. If it looks good, then lift the cap off really clean so that you do not smudge the spores. I sometimes cut the cap in half and put one half on a coloured paper and the other half on white paper and then you can really see the different results for different colours of spores. I have tried to think of ways to use these prints in some art form, but they are really transient as the spores smudge easily. so I photograph them and admire them:) easy and if you want to ID a new mushroom, it at least puts you in the right part of the mushroom guide book!

Thanks Jemma. Have you ever tried making spore prints? they are easy and awesome and I am always excited to see what they turn out like. Try making them on coloured paper too - for lighter coloured spores it is really magical. So I am not so scientific after all:)

I hope there is an edit on comments option on the new edition coming out soon! Please omit the second r in subrufescens in my last comment!

Thanks Mark! I really enjoyed reading about A. subrufrescens. I am not sure this is the one I have in my garden, but I love the information I found on this mushroom! What an amazing organism. Just read what wiki says about it for a start and then I will read more later when I have time. Very cool and thanks for the reference:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_subrufescens It is being used in many alternative medical applications. Wonderful!