In some natural situations where the soil is not highly fertile and the fungus does not develop, conifer seedlings often show signs of nitrogen starvation and ultimately die. The continual rain of leaf and branch material to the forest floor provides an inexhaustible supply of food to ground-dwelling fungi. Unlike those fungi that live on logs and ultimately die when the food runs out, the mycelium of ground-dwelling fungi can live for centuries in the general area of its birth. Besides the beauty of a mushroom's form and color, which is visible to the naked eye, another kind of beauty exists at the microscopic level. The size, shape, and color of mushroom spores are important clues to the serious student of fungi who wishes to identify a fungus.
Spores occur in a wide variety of colors black, brown, pink, white, lilac, and even green.
Each species of fungus has spores of a characteristic color. The mushroom spores are borne on partially or fully exposed surfaces like gills, tubes, and teeth, or even on the inside of cups. If you look closely with a microscope, the oddly-shaped spores may remind you of a fruit, vegetable, a piece of candy, or a Christmas ornament. All members of the plant kingdom face the problem of thecontinuance and dispersal of their species through seeds or spores. In studying the web of mushroom ecology, we discover that wind, water, insects, slugs, squirrels, and deer assist in the dispersal of fungi by transporting spores.