The substrate is what the fruit-bodies are directly growing on (apart from those that occur among the remains of animal carcasses). For agarics that are growing on the ground and not obviously on larger pieces of wood, look carefully at what the fruit-body is attached to when picked to see if it is actually growing on litter or mulch (rather than the soil).

If fruit-bodies are growing on the trunks of tree ferns, do not choose any options for this feature because mycorrhizal agarics (which otherwise only grow on the ground) often grow on tree ferns trunks associated with living roots of other plants that grow in the trunks. If on tree ferns, look around to see if fruit-bodies are also growing elsewhere to decide on the correct choice for this feature.

Choose this state if: fruit-bodies are attached to litter or mulch. When picked, the fruit-bodies can clearly be seen to arise from leaves, small sticks, wood chips or bark that has been shed or become loose. If the sticks are greater than 1 cm in diameter, choose wood.

Fruit-bodies of terrestrial fungi (on the ground) will often have leaves or twigs attached to the basal tomentum, but otherwise the base of the stipe is naked when picked or only has soil adhering.