Never eat on an app’s answer
Never eat a wild mushroom unless you are completely certain of its identity and have appropriate expert confirmation. A photograph can hide the stem base, obscure colour changes, miss a smell or show a specimen that is too young, old or damaged.
Inspect the whole specimen
Look beneath the cap. Check how gills, pores or teeth meet the stem. Observe the stem base without cutting it away. Note bruising, texture, smell, spore colour, nearby trees, substrate and growth pattern. Compare every important lookalike, not only the most attractive match.
Season and habitat are clues, not proof
A mushroom appearing in the expected woodland or month makes an identification more plausible, but unusual records occur and microhabitats are easy to miss. Weather and research forecasts cannot identify an individual fungus.
When in doubt, leave it out
Do not rely on taste tests, folk rules or a single photograph. Keep unknown mushrooms away from children and pets. If poisoning is suspected, contact the relevant emergency or poison-information service immediately and keep a sample for identification if it is safe to do so.