Mushroom - Introduction

A mushroom (Old English muscheron, from the Old French mouscheron, French mousseron —same name in English as a common kind of mushroom— itself perhaps a diminutive of mousse, meaning moss) is an above-ground fruiting body (that is, a spore-producing structure) of a fungus, having a shaft and a cap. By extension, it designates the entire fungus producing the fruiting body of such appearance, the former consisting of a network (called the mycelium) of filaments or hyphae.

In a much broader sense, mushroom is applied to any visible fungus, or especially the fruiting body of any fungus, with the mycelium usually being hidden under bark, ground, rotten wood, leaves, etc. Mushrooms obtain food through decomposition. The technical term for the spore-producing structure of "true" mushrooms is the basidiocarp. The term "toadstool" is used typically to designate a basidiocarp that is poisonous to eat.
 

Types of Mushrooms
Basidiocarps (mushrooms) of the fungus Leucocoprinus sp.

The main types of mushrooms are agarics (including the button mushroom, the most common mushroom eaten in the U.S.), boletes, chanterelles, tooth fungi, polypores, puffballs, jelly fungi, coral fungi, bracket fungi, stinkhorns, and cup fungi. Mushrooms and other fungi are studied by mycologists. The "true" mushrooms are classified as Basidiomycota (also known as "club fungi"). A few mushrooms are classified by mycologists as Ascomycota (or "sac fungi"), the morel and truffle being good examples. Thus, the term mushroom is more one of common application to macroscopic fungal fruiting bodies than one having precise taxonomic meaning.
Mushrooms

Edible mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines. Though commonly thought to contain little nutritional value, many varieties of mushrooms are high in fibre and protein, and provide vitamins such as thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), biotin (B7), cobalamins (B12) and ascorbic acid (C), as well as minerals, including iron, selenium, potassium and phosphorus. However, a number of species of mushrooms are poisonous, and these may resemble edible varieties, although eating them could be fatal. Picking mushrooms in the wild is risky —riskier than gathering edible plants— and a practice not to be undertaken by amateurs. The problem is that separating edible from poisonous species depends upon the application of only a few easily recognizable traits. People who collect mushrooms for consumption are known as mushroom hunters, and the act of collecting them as such is called mushroom hunting.



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