Mushroom
The mushrooms —also called callampas (from Quechua kallampa, k'allampa) in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru— are the group of fungi that have fruiting bodies or sporocarps.
They usually grow in the humidity provided by the shade of trees, but also in any humid environment with little light. Mushrooms are heterotrophic, since they need other organisms for nutrition and energy. This includes saprotrophic or mycorrhizal nutrition with a plant. More than 14,000 species of mushrooms have been described.
Some species are edible and others are poisonous, and there are even several with psychoactive effects. Examples of edible mushrooms are the champignon, the gurumelo, the níscalo, the galamperna, the oronja or shiitake (Lentinula edodes).
Evolution
Mushrooms originated from molds after the fusion of two monokaryotic mycelia giving rise to the dikaryotic mycelium that formed fruiting bodies. They probably appeared after the Cambrian explosion during the Cambrian period 500 million years ago. Some fossils include the prominent Prototaxites from 400 million years ago, which would be the largest organisms of their time and the largest fungi on record.
Classification
Typical mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of members of the order Agaricales, whose type genus is Agaricus and the type species is the peasant mushroom, Agaricus campestris. However, in modern molecularly defined classifications, not all members of the order Agaricales produce fruiting bodies of typical setae, and many other typical setae with blades are found in other orders of the class Agaricomycetes. For example, the gasteroid fungi are in the orders Cantharellales and Gomphales, the milk mushrooms (Lactarius, Lactifluus) and the Rusulas (Russula) as well as Lentinellus), are in the order Russulales, while the hard, leathery genera Lentinus and Panus are among the Polyporales, but Neolentinus is in the order Gloeophyllales, and the small mushroom genus Rickenella, along with similar genera, are in the order Hymenochaetales. Within the main body of Agaricales, common mushrooms such as senderuelas, shiitakis, enokis, oyster mushrooms, oronjas, psilocybin mushrooms, ink mushrooms, etc. An atypical mushroom is the lobster mushroom, which is a deformed, cooked lobster-colored, parasitized fruiting body of a Russula or Lactarius, colored and deformed by the mycoparasite.
Other mushrooms do not have blades, so the term "mushroom" it is used freely and it is difficult to give a complete description of its classifications. Some have pores underneath (and are often called boletus), others have spines, like lion's mane and other hydnoid fungi, etc. The term "Mushroom" it has also been used for polypoid fungi, powder box fungi, bark fungi, gelatinous fungi, truffles, earth tongues, coral fungi, stink fungi, and cup fungi. Therefore, the term is more of a common application to the fruiting bodies of macroscopic fungi than one that has a precise taxonomy. Approximately 14,000 species of mushrooms are described.
Fungi with fruiting bodies or sporocarps are found in divisions Basidiomycota (in classes Agaricomycetes, Dacrymycetes, Tremellomycetes, Atractiellomycetes, Agaricostilbomycetes, and Pucciniomycetes), Ascomycota (in classes subdivision Pezizomycotina and class Neolectomycetes), and Mucoromycota (in classes subdivision Pezizomycotina and class Neolectomycetes). the order Endogonales and the class Glomeromycetes). Some may be lichens or parasites. The fruiting body of a basidiomycete is called a basidiocarp and that of an ascomycete is called an ascocarp.
Morphology
A seta develops from a nodule, or pinhead, less than two millimeters in diameter, called a primordium, usually found on or near the surface of the substrate. The mass of filiform hyphae that form the mushroom is formed within the mycelium. The primordium enlarges into a rounded structure of intertwined hyphae roughly resembling an egg, called a "button". The bud has a cottony coil of mycelium, the universal veil, that surrounds the developing fruiting body. As the egg expands, the universal veil breaks down and may remain as a cup, or volva, at the base of the stem, or as volval warts or patches on the cap. Many setae lack a universal veil, so they do not have a volva or volval patches. Often a second layer of tissue, the partial velum, covers the blade-like blades that contain spores. As the cap expands, the veil breaks up, and remnants of the partial veil may remain as a ring or ring around the middle of the stem, or as fragments hanging from the margin of the cap. The ring may be skirt-like as in some Amanita species, necklace-like as in many Lepiota species, or simply the weak remnants of a curtain (a partial veil composed of filaments resembling a cobweb), which is typical of the genus Cortinarium. Setae lacking partial veils do not form a ring.
The stipe (also called the stem) may be central and support the cap in the middle, or it may be off-center and lateral, as in Pleurotus and Panus species.. In other fungi, a stem may be missing, as in polypores that form ledge-like supports. Compact mushrooms lack a stem, but may have a supporting base. Other mushrooms, such as truffles, gelatinous mushrooms, gasteroid mushrooms, and nest mushrooms generally do not have stems, and there is a specialized mycological vocabulary to describe their parts.
The way the blades attach to the top of the stem is an important feature of mushroom morphology. The mushrooms of the genera Agaricus, Amanita, Lepiota and Pluteus, among others, have free blades that do not extend to the top of the stem. Others have decurrent blades that extend down the stem, as in the genera Omphalotus and Pleurotus. There are a large number of variations between the ends of free and decurrent laminae, collectively called attached laminae. Finer distinctions are often made to distinguish types of attached blades: adnate blades, which are attached directly to the stem; notched blades, which are notched where they join the top of the stem; attached blades, which curve upward to meet the stem, and so on. These distinctions between attached blades are sometimes difficult to interpret, as the attachment of blades can change as the mushroom matures or with different environmental conditions.
Microscopic Features
A hymenium is a layer of microscopic spore-bearing cells that covers the surface of the blades. In lamellar-less setae, the hymenium lines the inner surfaces of boletus tubes and polypores, or covers the teeth of spinal fungi and branches of coral fungi. In ascomycetes, spores develop within elongated, sac-like microscopic cells called asci, which typically contain eight spores in each asci. Containing the cup, sponge, brain, and some club-shaped setae, discomycetes develop an exposed layer of asci, as on the inner surfaces of cup setae or within the morel pits. Tiny, dark-colored mushrooms that live on a wide range of substrates including soil, dung, leaf litter, and decaying wood, as well as other fungi, produce tiny flask-shaped structures called perithecia, within which mushrooms develop. ascas.
In basidiomycetes, four spores usually develop at the tips of thin projections called sterigmata, which extend from club-shaped cells called basidia. The fertile portion of gasteroid fungi, called the gleba, can become powdery like powder mushrooms or slimy like stink mushrooms. Interspersed between the asci are threadlike sterile cells called paraphyses. Similar structures called cystidia often appear within the basidiomycete hymenium. There are many types of cystidia, and assessment of their presence, shape, and size is often used to verify identification of a seta.
The most important microscopic characteristic for the identification of mushrooms are the spores. Their color, shape, size, attachment, ornamentation, and reaction to chemical tests can often be identifiable. A spore often has a bulge at one end, called an apicle, which is the point of attachment to the basidium, called an apical germ pore, from which the hypha emerges when the spore germinates.
Growth
Many species of mushroom appear seemingly overnight, growing or spreading rapidly. In fact, all mushroom species take several days to form fundamental setal fruiting bodies, although they expand rapidly from fluid absorption.
The common mushroom, like the common mushroom, initially forms a tiny fruiting body, called the pin stage because of its small size. Slightly expanded, they are called buttons, again due to relative size and shape. Once such stages are formed, the mushroom can rapidly extract water from its mycelium and expand, primarily by inflating preformed cells that took several days to form in the primordia.
Similarly, there are other fungi, such as Parasola plicatilis that grow rapidly at night and may disappear in the late afternoon on a hot day after rain. Primordia form at ground level on lawns in damp spaces under thatched roof and after heavy rain or dewy conditions swell to full size within a few hours, release spores, and then collapse.
Not all mushrooms spread overnight; some grow very slowly and add tissue to their fruiting bodies by growing from the edges of the colony or by inserting hyphae. For example, Pleurotus nebrodensis is slow growing and because of this, combined with human collection, is now critically endangered.
Although mushroom fruiting bodies are short-lived, the underlying mycelium itself can be long-lived and massive. Most of the mushroom is found underground and on decaying wood or dying tree roots as white mycelia combined with black shoelace-like rhizomorphs that bind separate colonized woody substrata together.
Identification
Identifying mushrooms requires a basic understanding of their macroscopic structure. Most are basidiomycetous and laminal. Their spores, called basidiospores, are produced on the gills and, as a result, fall in a fine dusty shower under the caps. At the microscopic level, the basidiospores shoot out of the basidia and then fall between the lamellae into the dead air space. As a result, for most mushrooms, if the cap is cut off and placed blade-side down overnight, a powdery impression is formed that reflects the shape of the blades (or pores, spines, etc.) (when the fruit body is sporulated). The color of the powdered print, called a spore print, is used to help classify mushrooms and can help identify them. Spore print colors include white (most common), brown, black, purple-brown, pink, yellow, and creamy, but almost never blue, green, or red.
While modern mushroom identification is rapidly becoming molecular, most still use standard identification methods and have become an art dating back to medieval and Victorian times, combined with microscopic examination. The presence of ruptured juices, bruises, reactions, odors, flavors, color nuances, habitat, habit, and season are considered by both amateur and professional mycologists. Tasting and smelling mushrooms carries its own dangers due to poisons and allergens. Chemical tests are also used for some genres.
In general, genus identification can often be accomplished in the field using a local field guide. Species identification, however, requires more effort. A mushroom develops from a bud stage to a mature structure, and only the latter can provide certain characteristics necessary for species identification. However, overripe specimens lose characteristics and stop producing spores. Many novices have mistaken wet watermarks on paper for white spore prints, or paper discolored by liquids oozing around the edges of the sheets for colored spore prints.
Some interesting mushrooms
Groceries
- Agaricus bisporus: Common champagne is a kind of mushroom cultivated extensively for use in gastronomy. It is the most frequently used species of edible mushrooms, presiding over numerous forms of consumption.
- Infundibulicybe geotropa: Eating mushroom and tasteful. The station grows to very advanced, November and December. It is located in the meadows of the forests.
- Leccinellum griseum: It grows in the forests of planifolios on different types of soils, preferring the abedules, leaflets, poplars and holm oaks. In the Basque Country, where in the autumnal period they are a product of high interest. This mushroom only takes advantage of the hat in gastronomy.
- Calocybe gambosa: It is a typical species of the area of the Basque Country and Aragon. Excellent gastronomic taste is considered a luxury, since it has not been able to breed in captivity and its production is scarce.
No gastronomic interest
- Inocybe hirtella: It is a species that grows preferably under the hazelnuts. The growth season you prefer covers the end of the summer and the fall (the year's season where these mushrooms are most located). He is suspected of not being edible, and must be excluded from consumption.
Psychoactive
- Psilocybe cubensis: It is a kind of psilocytic fungi so called because of its entheogenous properties resulting from the different chemicals they possess, mainly psilocin and psilocymyna.
Poisonous/Toxic
- Amanita muscaria: La Amanita muscaria contains toxic muscarin concentrations whose parasympathetic effect causes a very characteristic clinic such as tear, salivation, neurological effects, etc. Your antidote is atropine.
- Amanita phalloides: La Amanita phalloides causes a high-gravity poisoning and vital risk. An effective antidote in postconsumption stages is the raw meat that even in the stomach cancels toxin by binding the actin.
Mushroom projects with environmental and social impact
The production of mushrooms requires the use of substrates, these can be "waste" of agro-industries which tend to be discarded as garbage. The use of substrates in the production of mushrooms in sustainable projects, becomes an important source of food production and other biomass waste such as mycelia, which can be used for other productive projects that provide environmental benefits.
Human use
Traditional Medicine
Some mushrooms are used in traditional medicine. In some countries, extracts such as K-polysaccharide, schizophilan, polysaccharide peptide, or lentinan are government-registered adjuvant cancer therapies, but the clinical evidence of the efficacy and safety of these extracts in humans has not been confirmed.