Mushroom

A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source.

Forms deviating from the standard morphology usually have more specific names, such as "bolete", "puffball", "stinkhorn", and "morel", and gilled mushrooms themselves are often called "agarics" in reference to their similarity to Agaricus or their order Agaricales.

[4][5] The word toadstool appeared first in 14th century England as a reference for a "stool" for toads, possibly implying an inedible poisonous fungus.

Their spores, called basidiospores, are produced on the gills and fall in a fine rain of powder from under the caps as a result.

As a result, for most mushrooms, if the cap is cut off and placed gill-side-down overnight, a powdery impression reflecting the shape of the gills (or pores, or spines, etc.)

Spore print colors include white (most common), brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, and creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red.

The presence of juices upon breaking, bruising-reactions, odors, tastes, shades of color, habitat, habit, and season are all considered by both amateur and professional mycologists.

A mushroom develops from a button stage into a mature structure, and only the latter can provide certain characteristics needed for the identification of the species.

For example, chanterelles are in the Cantharellales, false chanterelles such as Gomphus are in the Gomphales, milk-cap mushrooms (Lactarius, Lactifluus) and russulas (Russula), as well as Lentinellus, are in the Russulales, while the tough, leathery genera Lentinus and Panus are among the Polyporales, but Neolentinus is in the Gloeophyllales, and the little pin-mushroom genus, Rickenella, along with similar genera, are in the Hymenochaetales.

[10] A mushroom develops from a nodule, or pinhead, less than two millimeters in diameter, called a primordium, which is typically found on or near the surface of the substrate.

The primordium enlarges into a roundish structure of interwoven hyphae roughly resembling an egg, called a "button".

As the egg expands, the universal veil ruptures and may remain as a cup, or volva, at the base of the stalk, or as warts or volval patches on the cap.

[11] The stalk (also called the stipe, or stem) may be central and support the cap in the middle, or it may be off-center or lateral, as in species of Pleurotus and Panus.

Other mushrooms including truffles, jellies, earthstars, and bird's nests usually do not have stalks, and a specialized mycological vocabulary exists to describe their parts.

Mushrooms in the genera Agaricus, Amanita, Lepiota and Pluteus, among others, have free gills that do not extend to the top of the stalk.

In the nongilled mushrooms, the hymenium lines the inner surfaces of the tubes of boletes and polypores, or covers the teeth of spine fungi and the branches of corals.

[18] Similarly, there are other mushrooms, like Parasola plicatilis (formerly Coprinus plicatlis), that grow rapidly overnight and may disappear by late afternoon on a hot day after rainfall.

[19] The primordia form at ground level in lawns in humid spaces under the thatch and after heavy rainfall or in dewy conditions balloon to full size in a few hours, release spores, and then collapse.

[23] Most of the fungus is underground and in decaying wood or dying tree roots in the form of white mycelia combined with black shoelace-like rhizomorphs that bridge colonized separated woody substrates.

The most common of these, Agaricus bisporus, is considered safe for most people to eat because it is grown in controlled, sterilized environments.

In recent years, increasing affluence in developing countries has led to a considerable growth in interest in mushroom cultivation, which is now seen as a potentially important economic activity for small farmers.

Even edible mushrooms may produce allergic reactions in susceptible individuals, from a mild asthmatic response to severe anaphylactic shock.

Toxicity likely plays a role in protecting the function of the basidiocarp: the mycelium has expended considerable energy and protoplasmic material to develop a structure to efficiently distribute its spores.

[43][44] Mushrooms with psychoactive properties have long played a role in various native medicine traditions in cultures all around the world.

Commonly known as "magic mushrooms" or "'shrooms", they are openly available in smart shops in many parts of the world, or on the black market in those countries which have outlawed their sale.

[48] A double-blind study, done by Johns Hopkins Hospital, showed psychedelic mushrooms could provide people an experience with substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance.

In the study, one third of the subjects reported ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms was the single most spiritually significant event of their lives.

[51] The muscimol-containing chemotaxonomic group of Amanitas contains no amatoxins or phallotoxins, and as such are not hepatoxic, though if not properly cured will be non-lethally neurotoxic due to the presence of ibotenic acid.

The Amanita intoxication is similar to Z-drugs in that it includes CNS depressant and sedative-hypnotic effects, but also dissociation and delirium in high doses.