Mushroom

A mushroom (also called a toadstool) is the part of a fungi that is comparable to the fruit of a plant. Unlike plants, mushrooms do not use sunlight to generate energy for themselves. Some mushrooms are edible, and are used for cooking in many countries, such as China, Korea and Europe. Other mushrooms, however, are poisonous, and can cause severe illness or death if eaten. People who search for edible mushrooms are called mycophagists, meaning "mushroom eater", while the act itself is called "mushrooming". Mushrooms have been known to support bone health and to regulate blood sugar in diabetics. It is available in different colours and shapes.

Mushroom
File:Amanita muscaria (fly agaric).JPG
The toxic mushroom Amanita muscaria, commonly known as "fly agaric."
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota

Kinds of mushrooms

File:Mushroom in Swedish forest 9.jpg

Mushroom in Swedish forest 9

• Agarics (includes very poisonous, and hallucinogenic kinds)
• Boletus (includes poisonous and edible kinds)
• Chanterelles (edible)
• Coral fungi (usually edible)
• Cap fungi (usually edible) ^{[citation needed]}
• Jelly fungi (usually edible)
• Polypores (similar to boletes)
• Psychedelic (also known as shrooms)
• Puffballs (usually edible)
• Stinkhorns (usually edible, but has a stench)
• Tooth fungi

Structure of mushrooms

Most mushrooms have a stem and a cap. The bottom of the cap usually has gills to hold spores, however, some mushrooms, such as the Porcini, have pores under the cap.

Mushroom Media

• Pholiota squarrosa growing at the base of a tree

• Amanita muscaria, the most easily recognised "toadstool", is frequently depicted in fairy stories and on greeting cards. It is often associated with gnomes.

• 

  Morphological characteristics of the caps of mushrooms

• A mushroom (probably Russula brevipes) parasitized by Hypomyces lactifluorum resulting in a "lobster mushroom"

• 

  Amanita jacksonii buttons emerging from their universal veils

• 

  The blue gills of Lactarius indigo, a milk-cap mushroom

• 

  Lycoperdon perlatum (the "common puffball") has a glebal hymenium; when young, the interior is white, but it becomes brown containing powdery spores as the fungus matures.

• Morchella elata asci viewed with phase contrast microscopy

• Timelapse of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) growing on a Petri dish

• ChampignonMushroom.jpg

  Agaricus bisporus, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed mushrooms

Identification

• Mushroom Expert
• MykoWeb
• An Aid to Mushroom Identification Archived 2009-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, Simon's Rock College
• Online Edible Wild Mushroom Field Guide
• Mushroom Observer (mushroomobserver.org), a collaborative mushroom recording and identification project
• list of field guides to mushrooms Archived 2012-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, from the International Field Guides database

Research associations

• Mushroom Mania; the Newsletter Archived 2010-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
• North American Mycological Association
• International Society for Mushroom Science Archived 2009-11-24 at the Wayback Machine
• Pacific Northwest Fungi Online Journal Archived 2010-01-31 at the Wayback Machine