>>40508
Cont.

When identifying a mushroom a certain order is the most convenient to follow.
First, even before we would see a mushroom we are probably aware the current date more or less, so we could know to some extend what kinds of mushroom we can come across. Then the surroundings can tightening the circle of possibilities. Are we walking in a meadow, or among trees? Are those trees conifers, or deciduous? Damp or dry? Sunny or shaded?
And when we find a nice toadstool the most visible part will be the cap. And that can tell a lot without even looking below. The shape, the colour, the texture, the edge of the cap. Does it have those little white fluffs that so characteristic to certain species (among them the picrel fly agaric)? Those thingies aren't part of the cap, but the remnants of a universal veil - some mushrooms have spots which are really part of the coloration of the cap. Is the cap slimy? Dry? Silky? It all matters.