You can think of spores as fungi seeds. Mushrooms produce and drop millions of spores with the intention that some of them will germinate, fuse together, and grow into new mycelium. Mycelium is the actual organism from which mushrooms are created. To make a comparison: the mycelium is the tree, the mushrooms it produces are the apples, and the spores created by the mushrooms are the apple seeds. - See more at: http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/identify-mushrooms.html#sthash.C0FIgTDL.dpuf