The most useful method for tree classification involves an examination of their leaves , branches , and bark . Deciduous trees have generally broad leaves which are shed each fall. Opposite - leaves which grow directly across from one another, in pairs. Lacking chlorophyll, fungi must extract food from other sources, usually dead and decaying organisms. There is quite a diversity in the Fungi Kingdom, but for our purposes we will focus on those forms readily noticeable in the woods.
Typical mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of some forms of fungi.
The part of each fungi that lives from year to year in most cases exists completely within the dead material. Each fungi organism then grows a new fruiting body, what we commonly call a mushroom, each year in order to create and disperse spores , the fungi equivalent of seeds. In a sense, a mushroom is to fungi what an apple is to a tree. Mushrooms can be identified by examining their external parts , texture , and color . However, unlike trees, many mushrooms can not be positively identified to the specie with out examination of the spores and other technical methods.