Other Characters

There are many other characters that are used in mushroom identification — too many to mention here. A few of the more common things to look for are:

• Bleeding: many mushrooms exude a juice when cut or broken. In particular, one genera, Lactarius, is identified primarily by this feature.
• Bruising: Color changes can be important keys to identifying species.
• Liquefying: One group of mushrooms, the inky caps, have the property that they turn to liquid as part of their spore releasing mechanism.