Glossary of Mycological Terms

 A 

Agar: a product derived from seaweed, valued for its gelatinizing properties, and commonly used to solidify nutrified media for sterile tissue culture. 

Agarics:   general term for a fungus with gills. 

Annulus: a ring, a collar, or cellular skirt forming on the stem, typically originating from a portion of the partial veil. 

Autoclave; a steam-pressurized vessel used for heat treating. 

B 

Button: a young fruiting body before it has opened up. 

Butt rot: a rot confined to the base or roots of the tree. 

C 

Cap: the caplike part of the fruiting body which supports the spore-bearing surface. 

Casing: a layer of water-retentive materials applied to a substrate to encouraged and enhance fruit-body production. 

Capillitium:   modified threadlike, often branched hyphae enmeshed in the spore mass of many Gasteromycetes. 

Conk: a woody, usually perennial polypore. 

Contamination: any organism other than the one desired to be cultivated. 

Context: the flesh of the cap or stalk. 

Cortina:  a veil with a silky or cobwebby texture. 

D

Deciduous: used to describe trees that seasonally shed their leaves. 

Decurrent: the attachment of the gill plates to the stem of a mushroom where the gills partially run down the stem. 

Deliquescing: the process of auto-digestion by which the gills and cap of a mushroom melt into a liquide. Typical of some members in the genus Coprinus. 

Disk: the central portion of the mushroom cap. 

E 

Ellipsoid: oblong-shaped. 

Evanescent: fragile and soon disappearing. 

F 

Farinaceous: grain like, usually in reference to the scent of mycelium or mushrooms.

Fermentation: the state of actively growing microorganisms, usually in a liquid environment. 

Fibrillose:   fine, thin, hair-like filaments. 

Filamentous: composed of hyphae or thread-like cells. 

Flush: a crop of mushrooms, collectively forming within a defined time period, often repeating in a rhythmic fashion. 

Fruitbody; the mushroom structure 

Fruiting; the event of mushroom formation and development. 

G 

Gypsum;  Calcium sulfate; CaSO4x2H2O. A buffer used in spawn making to keep grain kernels separated. Calcium sulfate slightly acidifies a substrate as sulfuric acids evolve. 

Gelatinous: jelly-like in consistency or appearance. 

Genus:  a group of closely related species 

H 

Habitat:  natural place of growth. 

Hardwood: used here in a broad sense to denote any tree that is not a conifer. 

Heart rot: a rot of the heartwood. 

Humus: decaying organic material in or on soil 

Hypha:   (plural hyphae) a single filament, the basic unit forming the fungus (adjective hyphal) 

L 

Lamellae: the gills of a mushroom, located on the underside of the cap 

Lamellulae:  the short gills, originating from the edge of the outer peripheral edge of cap but fully extending to the stem 

Lignicolous; growing on wood or a substrate composed of woody tissue. 

M 

Macroscopic: visible to the necked eye. 

Membranous: being sheath-like in form 

Mesophile: an organism thriving in moderate temperature zone, usually between 40-90 F (4-32C). 

Mycelium: a fungal network of thread-like cells. 

Mycology: the study of fungi. 

Mycophile: a person who likes mushrooms. 

Mycophobe: a person who fears mushrooms.

Mycorrhizal: a symbiotic state wherein mushroom mycelium forms on or in the roots of trees and other plants. 

Mycosphere: the environment in which the mycelium operate 

N 

Natural culture:  the cultivation of mushrooms outdoors, benefiting from natural weather conditions. 

P 

Parasite: an organism living on another living species and deriving its substance to the detriment of the host. 

Pasteurization: the rendering of a substrate to a state where competitor organisms are at a disadvantage, allowing mushroom mycelium to flourish. Steam or hot water is usually used; biological and chemical pasteurization are alternative methods. 

Pinhead: a dot-like form that develops into a mushroom. The pinhead is the earliest visible indication of mushroom formation. 

Primordium, Primordia:  the mushroom at the earliest stage of growth, synonymous with “pinhead”. 

R 

Rhizoid:   root-like structure 

Rhizomorph:   a thick string-like strand of mycelium. A rhizomorph can consist of one enlarged cell or many, usually braided. 

Ring zone:   faint mark where ring has been 

S 

Saccate:   bag-like 

Saprophyte: a fungus that lives on dead organic matter. 

Sclerotium, sclerotia: a resting stage of mycelium typified by a mass of hardened mycelium resembling a tuber and from which mushrooms, mycelia, or conidia can arise. Sclerotia are produced by both ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. 

Spawn: any material impregnated with mycelium, the aggregation of which is used to inoculate more massive substrates. 

Spinulose:   finely spiny 

Spore:   general term for the reproductive unit of a fungus, usually consisting of a single cell which may germinate to produce a hypha from which a new mycelium arises. 

Sterilization: the rendering of a substrate to a state where all life-forms have been made inviable. Sterilization by heat (steam) is more commonly employed in mushroom cultivation than chemical, gas, UV, or radioactive means. Sterilization usually implies prolonged exposure to temperature at or above the boiling point of water (212F/100C) at or above atmospheric pressure. 

Stipe: the stem of a mushroom. 

Substrate: straw, sawdust, compost, soil, or any organic material on which mushroom mycelium will grow 

Sulcate:   grooved 

Super-pasteurization; prolonged pasteurization utilizing steam. 

Super-pasteurization typically is for 12-48 hours at or near 100C (212F) at or near atmospheric pressure. Super-pasteurization is a method commonly used to render sawdust substrates, in bulk, into a form usable for the cultivation of shiitake, Oyster, and/or similar mushrooms. 

T 

Thermogenesis: the natural and spontaneous escalation of temperature occurring in substrates as fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms flourish. 

Through-spawning: mixing spawn evenly throughout the substrate. 

Top-spawning: placing spawn as a layer on the top of a substrate  

Tubes:   spore-producing layer in certain fungi, e.g. Boletus pinicol

Mushroom Mycelium

Mushroom Life-Cycle 

Mushrooms produce spores and drop them onto the ground and in the air to spread. They are basically the seeds and are used to spread the next generation of fungi. The spores are released and drop to the surface and make contact with moisture on the ground or humidity in the air.  The spores sink down into the soil and begin to germinate producing mycelium.  The mycelium grows into a larger mass and spreads out, searching for nutrients and moisture, colonizing its environment and consuming the substrate or soil around it.

Once the mycelium has grown enough to break through the surface it is exposed to sunlight and initiates the next process of growth were the actual mushrooms will begin to form.  The temperature of the environment and the amount of light exposure will determine when the mushrooms will being fruiting and each species has its own perameters for growth.  Once these specific settings are achieved pinheads will start to form.

 

Shortly after the pinheads will grow into fully mature mushrooms with stems and caps, the caps will stretch out and open revealing the gills underneath.  The gills are were the spores are collected before being released and are held in by a thin layer of mushroom skin called the "veil".  Once the mushroom cap grows large enough it will tear the veil releasing the spores and repeating the entire cycle.

 

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