The document describes the key structures and life cycle of mushrooms. Mushrooms have a cap, gills or pores on the underside of the cap where spores are produced, and sometimes a stem. As the mushroom matures, a veil or ring may be present. Spore prints are used to identify mushroom species by color. The life cycle begins with a spore germinating into mycelium, which undergo hyphal fusion to form fruiting bodies that bear and disperse more spores, completing the cycle. Structures like the volva and annulus are remnants of developmental stages like the universal veil.

3. General Morphology
•Mushrooms are described by Size, color,
color changes, texture, order, taste, cap,
gills, stem/stipe, veil, annulus, volva,
mycelium, and spore prints

5. Cap
• The expanded, upper part
of the mushroom; whose
surface is the pileus
• Cap descriptions include
viscid (sticky), glutinous
(slimy), dry, smooth, scaly,
fibrillose or warty
• Cap margins may be in
rolled, incurved, straight,
uplifted or striate
• Scale: rough patches of
tissue on the surface of
the cap (scales are
remnants of the veil).

6. Mushroom cap shape:

7. Mushroom cap surface:

8. Gills/Lamellae
•A series of radially
arranged (from the center)
flat surfaces located on
the underside of the cap.
Spores are made in the
gills.
•Gills are described by the
attachment pattern to the
stalk and by spacing,
thickness, depth and
forking pattern

9. Mushroom gill attachment:

10. Mushroom gill spacing:
Mushroom gill tissue arrangement:

11. Stalk/Stem/Stipe
•Stipe features
include size, color,
color changes,
shape, position,
structure, and
surface
characteristics
•The main support
of the mushroom; it
is topped by the cap.
Not all mushrooms
have a stalk

12. Mushroom stalk type:

13. Ring (Annulus)
• A skirt-like ring of tissue circling
the stem of mature
mushrooms. The ring is the
remnant of the veil (the veil is
the tissue that connects the
stem and the cap before the
gills are exposed and the
fruiting body develops). Not all
mushrooms have a ring.
• A veil is residual tissue from
mushroom development that is
left on the stalk and varies from
a few remnants to a complete
annulus

14. Mushroom ring type:

15. Veils and Volva
• A volva is a sack that is
found at the base of the
stalk
• A cup-shaped structure at
the base of the mushroom.
The basal cup is the
remnant of the button (the
rounded, undeveloped
mushroom before the
fruiting body appears). Not
all mushrooms have a cup.

16. Spore Prints
•Spore prints are a
very powerful way to
identify species of
mushrooms. They
are created by
leaving a mushroom
on top of a piece of
paper for 2-6 hours

17. • Mycelial threads: root-like filaments that
anchor the mushroom in the soil.
• Another feature to consider when identifying
mushrooms is whether they bruise or bleed a
specific color. Certain mushrooms will change
colors when damaged or injured. Cutting into
a mushroom and observing any color changes
can be very important when trying to
determine what it is.

18. • A universal veil is a temporary membranous tissue that fully
envelops immature fruiting bodies of certain gilled mushrooms. The
developing Caesar’s mushroom (Amanita caesarea), for example,
which may resemble a small white sphere at this point, is protected
by this structure. The veil will eventually rupture and disintegrate by
the force of the expanding and maturing mushroom, but will
usually leave evidence of its former shape with remnants. These
remnants include the volva, or cup-like structure at the base of the
stipe, and patches or “warts” on top of the cap.
• A partial veil (also called an inner veil, to differentiate it from the
“outer” veil, or velum) is a temporary structure of tissue found on
the fruiting bodies of some basidiomycete fungi, typically agarics.
Its role is to isolate and protect the developing spore-producing
surface, represented by gills or tubes, found on the lower surface of
the cap. A partial veil, in contrast to a universal veil, extends from
the stem surface to the cap edge. The partial veil later disintegrates,
once the fruiting body has matured and the spores are ready for
dispersal. It might then give rise to a stem ring, or fragments
attached to the stem or cap edge. In some mushrooms, both a
partial veil and a universal veil may be present.

19. Mushroom structure:

20. Stage.I. The spore of a mushroom contains all
of the necessary materials to form a new
fungus. When the spores of a mushroom are
released, they may travel a certain distance
before they land. The single cell then sends out
hyphae to help establish the fungus and gather
food.
Stage.II. After the spore has sent out its hyphae, they will eventually meet
up with the hyphae of another mushroom. After the sexual process of
reproduction has begun, the mushroom forms the structures of a "fruiting
body" that will eventually produce and disperse spores. The egg/button
stage is the early form of this fruiting body (Immature fruiting body).
Stage.III. The mature fruiting body can have various
structures. The picture at left is that of an Amanita, one type
of mushroom. The fruiting body may contain a cap, stalk, ring,
volva, and gills. The cap normally houses the spore producing
surface of the fruiting body. In the case of the Amanita, the
spore-producing cells are in the gills, but in other types of
mushrooms, spores are produced in tubes or inside the cap.
By comparing this illustration to the spore above, it is evident
which parts of the spore develop into specific structures of
the fruiting body.

21. Life cycle of a mushroom-forming basidiomycete

22. Life cycle of a mushroom-forming
basidiomycete
Haploid basidiospores grow into short-lived haploid
mycelia: under certain conditions, plasmogamy
occurs.
Resulting dikaryotic mycelium grows forming
mycorrhiza or mushrooms (basidiocarps).
Mushroom cap supports and protects gills: karyogamy
in the terminal, dikaryotic cells lining the gills
produces diploid basidia.
Resulting basidium immediately undergoes meiosis
producing four haploid basidiospores.
Asexual reproduction less common than in
ascomycetes.

23. The mushroom life cycle simplified. It all starts
when the spores are released from the gills,
(or whichever surface the mushroom happens
to carry spores on). Millions of spores are
released into the elements, (air, water,
animals..) these spores are dispersed by
various methods, (depending on the kind of
mushroom). When the conditions are right,
the spores germinate sending out tiny threads
called hyphae (single: hypha). In order for the
hyphae to develop and eventually produce a
mushroom it has to find other hyphae that are
compatible. When two compatible hyphae
meet, they fuse together to form a network or
threads called a mycelium. This mycelium
eventually forms what is known as a hyphal
knot which grows and develops into a pinhead
which in turn grows and develops into a
mushroom and then it all starts again.