Mushroom Diagram Unlabeled – Blank Sheet and Answer Key

All 9 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The mushroom 7

Cap The umbrella-shaped top. The gills are on its underside.
Gills Thin plates under the cap. The spores form on them.
Spores A fine powder that falls from the gills and spreads the fungus.
Ring (annulus) What is left of the veil that covered the young gills.
Stem (stipe) It holds the cap up. Also called the stipe or stalk.
Cup (volva) A sack around the foot of the stem, often under the soil.
Mycelium A web of fine threads in the soil. It is the main body of the fungus.

The button 2

Button A young mushroom, shaped like an egg. The cap and stem are already inside.
Universal veil A skin that wraps the whole button. It tears as the mushroom grows.

How this list was compiled: Every name was checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day; a name is kept only when two of them use it. (1) USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Field Guide to Common Macrofungi in Eastern Forests and Their Ecosystem Functions, General Technical Report NRS-79, 2011, https://www.nrs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs79.pdf (the parts of a mushroom shown on an Amanita: young mushrooms are called buttons or the egg stage and hold the preformed cap and stalk; the cap breaks through the universal veil; the veil over the gills and spores tears and leaves a ring, or annulus, on the stem, also called the stipe or stalk; a cup, or volva, at the stalk's base, often within the soil; patches on the cap are remnants of the universal veil; most of the fungus is an unseen mass of threadlike hyphae). (2) Wikipedia, text only: Mushroom, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom (a fruiting body of a fungus with a stem or stipe, a cap or pileus and gills; the gills produce spores, which fall as a fine powder from under the cap; a mushroom develops from a button; the universal veil may stay as a cup (volva) at the stalk's base; it grows from mycelium, the mass of threadlike hyphae the fungus is made of; many mushrooms have no universal veil), Universal veil, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_veil , Annulus (mycology), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annulus_(mycology) , Volva (mycology), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volva_(mycology) , and Mycelium, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium . (3) Penn State Extension, Basic Procedures for Agaricus Mushroom Growing, https://extension.psu.edu/basic-procedures-for-agaricus-mushroom-growing (mycelium; pins; cap; the veil). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

This unlabeled mushroom diagram is two drawings on one sheet. The upper one is a gilled mushroom standing in soil, with seven parts to name. The lower one is a young mushroom, whole and cut in half, with two more.

Read the full guide

Diagram of a mushroom, no labels: nine names

On the grown mushroom, from the top down: cap, gills, spores, ring, stem, cup and mycelium. On the young one: button and universal veil. The button is the whole egg shape, and the universal veil is the outer skin of the same egg cut in half.

Three questions for the filled-in sheet

Where do the spores form? (On the gills.) Which part is most of the fungus? (The mycelium, the threads in the soil.) Which two parts are scraps of a torn veil? (The ring, from the veil over the young gills, and the cup, from the universal veil.)

The dots beside the stem are spores falling from the gills. They are not part of the soil.

Questions and answers

Which blank mushroom label is the ring and which is the cup?

The ring is the skirt around the stem, a little under the cap. The cup is the torn sack around the foot of the stem, half in the soil.

What are the scientific names for the parts of a mushroom?

Pileus for the cap, lamellae for the gills, stipe for the stem, annulus for the ring and volva for the cup. Either set of names is right on the sheet.

Do all mushrooms have gills?

No. Most do, and this diagram shows one of them. Boletes make their spores in tubes under the cap, and hedgehog mushrooms make them on spines.

What are the patches on a mushroom cap?

Scraps of the universal veil, left on the cap when the growing mushroom broke through it. Books call them patches, warts or scales. They are drawn on this sheet and take no label.