Types of Fungus

What types of fungi are there?

If you find a toadstool or mushroom, one way of identifying what type of fungus it might be, is to look at its spores. To do this you can make a spore print.

To make a spore print:

Carefully cut the stem of the fungus from the cap .
Place the cap, with the gills down, on a piece of paper. If the gills are light coloured, use dark paper. If the gills are dark, use white paper
Place a bowl over the fungus to prevent draughts affecting your spore print.
Leave the fungus for a few hours to allow time for the spores to fall and produce a pattern on the paper. Some fungi may need to be left overnight, some will work very quickly.
When you have your spore print, you can keep it by spraying it with a fixative spray.
The fungi kingdom is divided up into different groups called phyla.

Phylum Basidiomycota

These are the most recognisable fungi, they include the mushrooms and toadstools. They produce their spores on surfaces called basidia. This is what covers the gills of mushrooms. Some of the main groups of basidiomycota are:

Gilled fungi
Pore fungi
Coral fungi
Puff balls
Spine fungi
Below ground fungi
Bracket fungi
Jelly fungi

Phylum Ascomycota

Fungi in this group produce spores in tiny sacs called asci. Some of these are edible, some of these are:

Morels
Truffles
Yeast
Phylum Zygomycota
Moulds
Phylum Chytridiomycota