Mushroom

Lore & Background

Mushrooms are the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting bodies of fungi, typically emerging above ground on soil or another food source. The term "toadstool" generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, *Agaricus bisporus*, and the word is most often applied to fungi that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae) on the underside of the cap. However, "mushroom" also describes a variety of other gilled fungi, with or without stems, and is used for the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota. The gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread. Forms deviating from the standard morphology have more specific names, such as "bolete", "truffle", "puffball", "stinkhorn", and "morel", while gilled mushrooms are often called "agarics". Mushrooms grow from underground mycelium and can expand rapidly under favorable conditions. They vary widely in use: some are edible and nutritious, while others are toxic or psychoactive, and many have roles in folk medicine, ecology, and industry. The terms "mushroom" and "toadstool" go back centuries and were never precisely defined. The word "mushroom" may derive from the French *mousseron*, in reference to moss. The word "toadstool" appeared in 14th-century England as a reference for a "stool" for toads, implying an inedible poisonous fungus. Most mushrooms are basidiomycetes and gilled, producing basidiospores on the gills that fall as a fine powder. A spore print, made by placing the cap gill-side-down overnight, reveals the color of the spores—commonly white, brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, or creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red. Identification considers juices upon breaking, bruising reactions, odors, tastes, shades of color, habitat, habit, and season, though tasting carries hazards due to poisons and allergens. Chemical tests are also used for some genera. A mushroom develops from a button stage into a mature structure, and only the latter provides certain characteristics needed for species identification. Over-mature specimens lose features and cease producing spores.

Reader's Guide

Mushrooms vary widely in use: some are edible and nutritious, while others are toxic or psychoactive; many have roles in folk medicine, ecology, and industry. Identification relies on macroscopic structure, spore print color, and microscopic features, though modern methods are becoming molecular. The term 'mushroom' is loosely applied to many macroscopic fungal fruiting bodies, including polypores, puffballs, jelly fungi, coral fungi, bracket fungi, stinkhorns, and cup fungi, and does not have precise taxonomic meaning. Mushrooms grow from underground mycelium and can expand rapidly under favorable conditions. The cultivated white button mushroom, *Agaricus bisporus*, serves as the standard for the name "mushroom," which is most often applied to fungi with a stem, cap, and gills, though the term also describes fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota. Gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread. Forms deviating from the standard morphology have specific names like bolete, truffle, puffball, stinkhorn, and morel. The terms "mushroom" and "toadstool" go back centuries without precise definition; "toadstool" appeared in 14th-century England as a reference for a stool for toads, implying an inedible poisonous fungus. Identification considers juices upon breaking, bruising reactions, odors, tastes, habitat, habit, and season, though tasting carries hazards due to poisons and allergens. Spore print colors include white, brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, and creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red. Typical mushrooms are fruit bodies of the order Agaricales, but many other gilled fungi occur in other orders of Agaricomycetes, such as chanterelles in Cantharellales and milk-cap mushrooms in Russulales. An atypical mushroom is the lobster mushroom, a *Russula* or *Lactarius* fruit body deformed by the parasitic fungus *Hypomyces lactifluorum*, giving an unusual shape and red color.

Did You Know?

• The word 'toadstool' first appeared in 14th-century England as a reference for a 'stool' for toads, implying an inedible poisonous fungus.
• Spore print colors include white, brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, and creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red.
• An atypical mushroom is the lobster mushroom, a Russula or Lactarius fruit body deformed by the parasitic fungus Hypomyces lactifluorum.
• The standard for the name 'mushroom' is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus.