Dr. Betsy Arnold, curator of the Gilbertson Herbarium gave us the following guidelines for collecting for the herbarium: 

1) Collect carefully by digging up the entire mushroom(s), in a few stages of maturity if possible, multiple specimens if possible, bag the specimen(s) separately from other mushrooms in a labeled paper or wax paper bag, keep cool and dry; 

2)  Preserve properly by cutting a least one mushroom in half longitudinally, dehydrating at 105 degrees or less until brittle, keeping specimens free of moisture after drying by placing each collection in a sealed zip lock bag labeled with the collection number; and 

3) Photograph mushrooms and record important data at the time of collection such as date collected,locality, elevation, growing on ground or wood, types of trees within 20 meters, distinctive odors, bruising etc.  Submit specimens to the herbarium with a spreadsheet that provides the following information:  Scientific name, Authority, Collector, Determiner, Date Collected,  Collecton Number, Locality (eg. USA, Arizona, Coconino Nat. Forest, SR 180), Habitat, Substrate and Host.

Use this form for submitting your specimen to the Gilbertson Herbarium. Email the form to jmyers457@arizona.edu for review and approval before mailing specimens to the herbarium.

We strongly recommend creating an online record of your specimens, using the free iNaturalist mobile phone app, and including the iNat number on your specimen.

Recommended online resources for identification are www.mykoweb.com and www.mushroomexpert.com.  "Mushrooms Demystified" by David Arora is an invaluable and comprehensive resource that will help you ID your collecton to at least genus in most cases.