Questions

What is this site?

A record of one person's mushroom collection, kept in the open. Each specimen is followed from the moment it was picked up to whatever is currently known about what it is — including, often, that nobody is sure yet.

Why are there no photographs here?

Because they are already somewhere better. The photographs live on iNaturalist, where naturalists can see them, comment, and identify them. Copying them here would split the conversation across two places and leave one of them stale. Every specimen that has been posted links straight to its observation.

What do the stages mean?

Collected

Found and picked up, with the date and place recorded.

Processed and filed

Photographs sorted, dried if it was worth keeping, given a number.

Posted to iNaturalist

Published where other people can see it and weigh in.

DNA sequenced

A piece of the specimen sequenced, so the name can rest on something firmer than appearance.

Validated on MycoMap

That sequence checked against reference sequences by people who do this properly.

Current name assigned

The best name available today. It can change, and sometimes does.

Most specimens have not been through all of it, and that is normal. The point of showing the stages is that you can see exactly how far any one of them got.

How do I find one specimen?

Browse the collection and search by name, by its WRJ number, or by county. Every specimen also has a short permanent address of the form /s/<number>/ that never changes, even if the specimen is renamed. That is the one to use if you are linking to it.

Why does a mushroom have no name?

Because an honest blank is better than a confident guess. Many fungi cannot be named from photographs at all, and a name written down too early tends to stick around long after it stops being believed. Where there is a confidence recorded, it is shown next to the name so you can judge it for yourself.

Are the locations real?

Yes. Where a specimen was found is published along with everything else, because a record with the place removed is much less use to anybody studying what grows where.

Can I use any of this?

Yes. It is published to be used. The photographs on iNaturalist carry their own licence terms, which are shown on each observation.

Can I add my own specimens?

Not at the moment — the site holds one person's collection and accounts are not open. If that changes, it will be said here first.

Something here looks wrong

Quite possibly. Names get revised, and a mistake in a record is worth more to fix than to leave. The fastest way to say so is a comment on the specimen's iNaturalist observation, where it is in front of other people who know the group.