Spore colour chart ..

[jaybie]

is there such a thing??

There are all sorts of colour charts e.g. for watercolours but are these suitable for describing spore colours. In a recent post asking for help I described the spore print as ochre but I wondered if there is some sort of chart to compare with.

Thanks, JohnB

[treecreeper]

There is a colour chart in Michael Jordan's Encyclopaedia of Fungi of Britain and Europe. This has 84 coloured squares, most with names, and appeared earlier as an HMSO publication called 'Flora of British Fungi: Colour Identification Chart'. It is a little confusing. Squares 7, 78 and 84 are marked White but are grey. Also, squares 1-6 and 8,9 (curiously interrupted by 7, one of the supposed Whites) are marked A through H and show a gradation from white through deepening shades of cream-yellow....or they would, except that A (1) is not white but the same shade of grey as the 'White' squares.

[Deb London]

My old Collins guide has eight shades which are important for Russula spp. ID:

Pure white, ivory, pale cream, cream, yellowish cream, pale ochraceous, ochraceous, ochre. The differences appear to be quite subtle.

[Deb London]

Mmm, they are a little too dark on this monitor.

[treecreeper]

Here's part of the HMSO chart:



Colours look slightly paler on my monitor compared with the chart

[Ditiola]

Hi
You can make your own as follows.

Make a collection of spore prints from known toadstools
Protect the print, I print onto small squares of paper and slot into transparent coin envelopes
Make a note from the guidebooks of the colour for each species
Slot in another square of paper back to back with the fungus name and spore colour
You can then use this collection to mach with the colours of other species

You can then also:
Match each colour to the paint colour charts used in 'mix your own' paint machines
Cut these out and make a spore colour chart.

I did have a base for a chart with paint mix refference numbers, but the codes and names have all changed now

I tried making a computer chart, but different printer's print different shades.

Peter

[jonbem]

Hi
unless you have very high end (and expensive!) kit like they use in professional graphics (that can be calibrated to the trademarke Pantone colours) then you are very much - "ahem" - spitting into the wind. At the domestic end of things you can send the same file from 1 PC to 2 identical printers and get different results.

Jon

[jaybie]

Thanks for the info and example charts they have been helpful in giving me some idea of colours.

Peter - that is food for thought and would keep me occupied for a while while building up a useful reference.

Jon - I know what you mean. I have a calibrated monitor and can print reasonable colours but even a change of paper throws the profiles out.

JohnB