How are they identified?

[redsky99]

How is it that "schrooms" are identified and distinguished from all of the other mushrooms that are commonly eaten by people all over the world?

[Chrissie]

Do you know, I ate these when I was young and foolish and I lived in a rural community where eating what you gathered was the thing to do. They were tiny little things that quickly became slimy and useless and if you gather them a lot you find that you have a "feel" for which ones are the correct ones. They look like nothing special, small pale brown with very thin stalks. The larger Fly Agaric are a different thing altogether!

[JackTJ]

I bet alot of people get sick because they think they have found the right mushrooms but they are actually the poisonous ones.

[LaJit]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!
DO NOT go into a field or forest and try to 'feel out' which are good. This is dangerous and just plain stupid if you don't know what you're doing.

There are guides and abundant information on the topic, learn how to take spore prints, learn what grows in what area/climate, to sum it up narrow what you're looking for down from just...A mushroom.

Better yet, befriend(or even better, become) a mycologist.