Spore Print Color Chart: Which Mushrooms Match Yours
Pick the color of your spore print and, if you know it, the kind of underside your mushroom has. The finder lists the species in our encyclopedia whose profile records that print color, and gills, pores, teeth or ridges narrow the list further. Read every name on it as a candidate to check, since many species share each color.
This tool narrows what to read. It cannot tell you a mushroom is safe to eat. If someone ate a wild mushroom, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.
25 species with a white spore print
15 of them are poisonous
Species in our encyclopedia that record this print.
Rule these out first
Angel Wing
Pleurocybella porrigens
Poisonous
Club Foot
Ampulloclitocybe clavipes
Poisonous
Deadly Dapperling
Lepiota brunneoincarnata
Poisonous
Death Cap
Amanita phalloides
Poisonous
Destroying Angel
Amanita bisporigera
Poisonous
Fly Agaric
Amanita muscaria
Poisonous
Fool's Funnel
Clitocybe rivulosa
Poisonous
Fool's Mushroom
Amanita verna
Poisonous
Freckled Dapperling
Echinoderma asperum
Poisonous
Lilac Bonnet
Mycena pura
Poisonous
Panther Cap
Amanita pantherina
Poisonous
Rosy Bonnet
Mycena rosea
Poisonous
Tiger Knight
Tricholoma pardinum
Poisonous
Western Destroying Angel
Amanita ocreata
Poisonous
Yellow Knight
Tricholoma equestre
Poisonous
Read next
Spore print colors
Also white
White Chanterelle
Cantharellus subalbidus
Choice edible
Oyster Mushroom
Pleurotus ostreatus
Edible
Shiitake
Lentinula edodes
Edible
Australian Honey Fungus
Armillaria luteobubalina
Caution
Velvet Shank
Flammulina velutipes
Caution
Agarikon
Laricifomes officinalis
Medicinal
Lion's Mane
Hericium erinaceus
Medicinal
Poria
Wolfiporia cocos
Medicinal
Birch Polypore
Fomitopsis betulina
Inedible
Red-Belted Conk
Fomitopsis pinicola
Inedible
A spore print narrows the group. It never confirms a species or that it is safe to eat.
How it works
How to take a spore print
Once you have a color, the finder keeps the species whose profile records that print color and drops any whose underside does not match your choice. Many prints sit between two colors, and a thin deposit looks paler than a thick one. If your print falls between two shades, run a second search on the neighbouring color and compare both lists.
Poisonous species come first and sit inside a red border. Choice edibles share a white print with the deadliest Amanitas, so a white result asks for more checks before you trust any name on the list. Every color has limits on what it can rule out, and the spore print color chart sets out those limits color by color.
Under each result, the method panel shows how many of our profiles record a print color at all. It then counts the ones that match your choice and the poisonous ones among them. Those counts come straight from the profiles, so they grow as we add species.
How the white list was found
- 59 of our 94 profiles record a spore print colour
- 25 record white
- 15 of those are poisonous, so they are listed first
Limits
What this tool cannot do
- It cannot name a species from color alone.
- It covers only the profiles in our encyclopedia that record a print color, so your mushroom may appear on no list at all.
- It never tells you a mushroom is safe to eat, and it replaces no full identification or poison center.
Questions
What if my print is between two colors?
Search both. Thin or uneven deposits can look paler than the species' true color, so the neighbouring color often holds the match. Compare both lists against the cap, gills and stem, and keep only the species that agree on every feature.
Why does a white print need extra care?
White prints come from edible species and from deadly Amanitas such as the Death Cap and the Destroying Angel. That overlap raises the stakes of every other check you make, starting with the buried cup or bulb at the stem base. Both profiles show the features that set each species apart from the white-spored edibles.
Does the paper color change how a print looks?
Yes. White deposits vanish on white paper, and dark ones hide on black. Laying the cap across a sheet that is half light and half dark shows either kind clearly, which is why the third step reads the color on both parts.
Sources2
- Spore print colors, our identification guide Photograph before lifting and keep the complete stem base, foil beneath a clear cover, and agreement between the cap, gills and stem. Checked 2026-10-20.
- Species spore print records, from each linked species profile Print colors come from the spore print field of each profile. Checked 2026-10-20.