Types of mushrooms

Sushma
Bhagwat
 What are mushrooms

Mushrooms
Are the conspicuous umbrella-shaped fruiting body
(sporophore) of certain fungus.

These depend on host body/dead and decaying matter

for nourishment
True Morels
They belong to kingdom Fungi and Phylum
basidiomycete.
• Popularly, the term mushroom is used to identify, the edible sporophores; and the inedible or poisonous
sporophores are termed as toadstool.
• There is, no scientific distinction between the two names, and either can be properly
applied to any fleshy fungus fruiting structure.
• There are around 2000 types of edible mushrooms out of which less than 100 are
cultivated

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 Few edible and inedible mushrooms

Edible Inedible

• Button (White) Mushroom • Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

• Oyster Mushrooms • Conocybe filaris
• Morel Mushrooms • Webcaps (Cortinarius species)
• Truffles Mushrooms • Autumn Skullcap (Galerina
• Enoki (Snow Puff) Mushrooms marginata)
• Porcini Mushrooms • Destroying Angels
• Portabella Mushrooms (Amanita species)
• Podostroma cornu-damae
• Deadly Dapperling (Lepiota
brunneoincarnata)

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 There can be both sexual and vegetative
reproduction found in Mushrooms

Vegetative reproduction
may happen through fragmentation

Sexual reproduction through Spores

• Sex organs are absent.
• Plasmogamy happens through fusion of two vegetative or
somatic cells of different strains or genotypes.
• Resultant dikaryotic structure give rise to basidium
• Karyogamy and meiosis takes place in the basidium producing
four basidiospores
• Basidiospores are exogenously produced on basidium
• Basidia/Multiple basidium are Arranged in Fruiting body called
basidiocarps.
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 Conditions required For growth of Mushrooms

Light:
• As these have a Heterotrophic mode of nutrition and lack chlorophyll they do not need light for their growth.
• Environment needs to be as dark as possible for mushrooms to spawn, some light does not harm
their growth
• Need a dim light to form fruit bodies, but only requires a few hours a day for successful fruiting

Water and Humidity:

• Require moisture to produce their fruit
• Absence of skin leads to easy moisture loss, therefore they grow under highly humid environment
• Wild mushrooms disappear during dry weather, and may reappear when moisture levels and
humidity improve

Growing medium:
• Grows on trees, decomposing leaves, dung, mulch, soil or compost, feeding off the dead or
decaying matter
• Many wild mushrooms, like morels (Morchella) are found at the base of trees and among dead
leaves on the forest floor

Temperature:
• Wild mushrooms form mycelia in temperatures that range from 40 to 900F
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 A mushroom basically has
six different parts

 Looks something similar to  Gives fungi it’s umbrella

gills of fishes shape
 They are also called teeth or  Comes in a variety of colours,
pores including white, brown, and
 It is a structure that appears yellow
right under the mushroom  Protects the pores or gills
cap and produces spores from harsh weather
conditions

 Mushrooms are covered in a  It is a partial veil that is left

protective veil as they grow
on the stem
out of the ground  It is an extra layer of
 This protective veil is called
protection for the spores
the volva
 The mushroom pushes
that grow when the
mushroom is still very young
through the volva as it  The cap grows out and
matures, leaving parts of the
breaks through the veil and
veil at the bottom of the
the remnant forms the ring
stem.
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 A mushroom basically has
six different parts
Note:
the way that a stem is attached
to the cap can be an important clue
 It is the long, vertical part of
in identifying a mushroom.
E.g.: a morel’s stem will attach to the mushroom that holds
the inside of the hollow cap, the cap above the ground
 As mushrooms propagate
whereas a false morel’s stem will
attach to the bottom of the cap. through spores, the cap and
gills need to be held high
enough from ground level
by the stem, so that they
 It is a collection of thin hair- can be carried away easily
like strands that grow by wind
outward and downward into  In some mushrooms, the
the soil in search of spores grow right down the
nutrients sides of the stem
 It acts like the roots in
flowering plants and can
produce new mushrooms
when the conditions are
suitable
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Parasitic: Mycorrhiza:
• They are some-what pathogenic to the host • symbiotic association between a green plant and
• Fungi form symbiotic relationships with other living a fungus in which both organisms are benefitted
organisms, but benefit to the detriment of host • plant makes organic molecules such as sugars
• Detriment may even lead to death of host. by photosynthesis and supplies them to the
fungus
Note: • fungus supplies to the plant water and mineral
Not all Parasitic fungi are mushrooms. nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the
soil

Types of
Mushrooms
Based on mode of nutrition

Saprotroph: Endophytic:
• feeds on non-living organic matter to get nourishment • Endophytes partner with plants by invading the
• Derived from two Greek words: host tissue
• saprós (“rotten”) • unlike with parasitic fungi, the host remains
• trophē (“nourishment”) healthy and seem to benefit with increased
nutrient absorption and resistance to pathogens

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 Examples of parasitic mushrooms

Honey Mushrooms
(Scientific name: Armillaria)

Description:
• Highly variable, but generally cinnamon brown, yellow-brown, or tan caps
covered in fibrils.
• Whitish gills and a prominent ring on the stalk
• Stalk flesh stringy, stuffed with a cottony pith
• Growing in small to large groups, mostly in the fall

Ecology:
• parasitic on both hardwoods and conifers
• Causes white rot and spreads readily from tree to tree

Note:
Not all honey mushrooms are edible, there are some similar looking Armillaria species existing which causes
gastrointestinal distress

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 Examples of Mycorrhiza mushrooms

Porcini Mushroom
(scientific name: Boletus edulis)

Description:
• Fruit body has a large brown cap
• Tubes extends downward from the underside of the cap,
rather than gills
• The pore surface is whitish when young, but ages to a
greenish-yellow
• Stem, is white or yellowish in colour, and partially covered
with a raised network pattern

Ecology:
• Mutualistic relationship with the roots of plants
• Fungus exchanges nitrogen and other nutrients extracted from the environment for fixed carbon from the host

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 Examples of Saprotroph mushrooms

Oyester Mushrooms
(Scientific Name: Pleurotus ostreatus)

Description:
• Broad, fan or oyster-shaped cap
• Natural specimens range from white to gray or tan to dark-brown
• The margin is in-rolled when young, and is smooth and often
somewhat lobed or wavy
• The flesh is white, firm, and varies in thickness due
to stipe arrangement
• Gills of the mushroom are white to cream, and descend on the stalk
if present
Ecology:
• It is a saprotroph that acts as a primary decomposer of wood, especially deciduous trees, and beech trees in particular
• While this mushroom is often seen growing on dying hardwood trees, it only appears to be acting saprophytically,
rather than parasitically
• They actually benefit the forest by decomposing the dead wood, returning vital elements and minerals to the ecosystem
in a form usable to other plants and organisms
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 Examples of endophytic mushrooms

White button Mushrooms

(Scientific name: Agaricus bisporus)

Description:
• Cap of the original wild species is a pale grey-brown in color,
with broad, flat scales on a paler background and fading toward
the margins
• The narrow, crowded gills are dark brown with a whitish edge
• The stalk bears a thick and narrow ring, which may be streaked on
the upper side
• The firm flesh is white, although stains a pale pinkish-red on
bruising

Ecology:
• The metabolites of the endophytic microbes from this mushroom were analyzed to identify the bioactive molecules
and were tested against known pathogens for the antibacterial activity.
• The metabolites of these endophytes may be responsible for some of the bioactive compounds in button mushroom.

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Source:
• https://www.britannica.com/science/mushroom
• https://mushroomsite.com/2020/09/06/parts-of-a-mushroom/
• https://www.britannica.com/list/7-of-the-worlds-most-poisonous-mushrooms
• https://www.thespruceeats.com/edible-mushroom-varieties-1807698
• https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/nature/parasitic-fungi.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_edulis
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_ostreatus
• https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_4_types_of_mushrooms/article.htm
• https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/kebo102.pdf
• https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/types-of-mushrooms.html#sthash.ghz5aXpr.dpbs
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5435028/#:~:text=Endophytes%20are%20mainly%20bacteria%20or,animal
s%20or%20other%20living%20system.&text=The%20most%20widely%20consumed%20mushroom,association%20with%20
some%20beneficial%20bacteria
.
• https://homeguides.sfgate.com/needs-mushroom-growth-44893.html

Thank you!
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