If you want to go the extra mile, you can also take a spore print! The color of the spore print is an important diagnostic character.
And, another mile, with a microscope you can photograph the spores at high magnification. The shape and size of the spores is another diagnostic character.
I think this is a nice image to describe the anatomy of a mushroom (Source):
When photographing, it is good to capture:
The cap
The gills
The volva
The ring around the stem (or absence of it)
If you want to go the extra mile, you can also take a spore print! The color of the spore print is an important diagnostic character.
And, another mile, with a microscope you can photograph the spores at high magnification. The shape and size of the spores is another diagnostic character.
Incredible! I wish there was a wiki feature so that I could easily structure this into a nice little guide. Thanks for the contribution!
Thank you for all the additional resources, this is great!