spore — mushroom identifier & field guide
safety &
sources
Spore is a learning tool, not a safety test. Image-based identification cannot confirm that a mushroom is safe to eat. Several deadly species — including death caps, destroying angels and some webcaps — resemble edible mushrooms, and their poisoning symptoms can be delayed by many hours. Never eat a wild mushroom unless a qualified local expert has examined the specimen in person.
if you suspect poisoning
- Call your local emergency number or poison centre immediately, even if the person feels fine — symptoms of the most dangerous species can be delayed.
- Keep any remaining mushroom, leftovers or photos for identification by professionals.
- Do not wait for an app, forum or message reply.
how to use spore well
- Use it to learn names, features and look-alikes, and to know what to ask an expert.
- Take results with low confidence or several close matches as “unknown”.
- Wash your hands after handling wild fungi, and keep them away from children and pets.
- Follow local rules on foraging and protected areas, and pick sparingly.
how identification works
Your photos are analysed by a multimodal AI model (Google Gemini) that compares visible features — cap shape, gills or ridges, stem, base and habitat — with known species, and returns likely matches with a confidence and the relevant look-alikes. Species profiles and facts may be AI-generated and are presented as reference text; they can contain mistakes. See the privacy policy for how photos are handled.
photographs & species data
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). gbif.org — taxonomy, names and occurrence media. Spore shows GBIF images only under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences, credited to their authors.
- Mushroom Observer. mushroomobserver.org — community observations used as a fallback for licensed photographs, credited with a link to the observation.
- Built-in field guide. A small set of reviewed profiles for common species, with original illustrations labelled as artwork.
what spore does not do
- It does not declare any specimen safe to eat.
- It does not replace an expert, a mycological society or a poison centre.
- It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
questions
Contact tinkersmithstudio@gmail.com. See also the Terms of Use and Support.