Keeping Notes - guidelines for fungus recording

Each enthusiast or each Fungus Group can develop their own preferred recording system for location and habitat data. This general-purpose record sheet is easily modified to suit your preferences:

Date
Day, month, year
Location
Venue details
Situation
Solitary, group size etc
Substrate
On living/dead wood (type), in moss, leaf litter, soil
Possible mycorrhizal partners Nearby trees or shrubs
Cap
Diameter, colour, nature of surface, odour etc
Gills/tubes
Colour, shape, size, crowded/spaced etc
Spore print
Colour
Stem
Diameter, length, shape, colour, nature of surface
Base
Rooting, shape, volva etc
Other details
Colour changes, etc

Photographice records

Where possible, photograph specimens and features at various stages in their development and from several angles. Here, for example, is a photo record of the Shaggy Inkcap, Coprinus comatus:

Group of fungi
A large group beneath giant redwood trees
Shaggy Inkcaps
Youngish specimens at the edge of a tree-lined track
Stem
Stem, showing the movable stemring
Decaying fungi
Old caps nearing the end of the deliquescing stage