Search results
- DictionaryMush·room/ˈməSHˌro͞om/
noun
- 1. a fungal growth that typically takes the form of a domed cap on a stalk, with gills on the underside of the cap: "she sautéd the mushrooms in butter"
- 2. a pale pinkish-brown color: "a mushroom leather bag"
verb
- 1. increase, spread, or develop rapidly: "environmental concern mushroomed in the 1960s"
- 2. (of the smoke, fire, or flames produced by an explosion) spread into the air in a shape resembling that of a mushroom: "the grenade mushroomed into red fire as it hit the hillside"
People also ask
What is the difference between a mushroom and a toadstool?
What are the benefits of eating mushrooms?
What are some popular types of mushrooms?
How do you cook mushrooms?
Learn the meaning of mushroom as a noun and a verb, with synonyms, examples, and word history. Find out how to use mushroom in a sentence and explore related phrases and articles.
- Overview
- Edible mushrooms
- Form and major groups
- Other “mushrooms”
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
mushroom, the conspicuous umbrella-shaped fruiting body (sporophore) of certain fungi, typically of the order Agaricales in the phylum Basidiomycota but also of some other groups. Popularly, the term mushroom is used to identify the edible sporophores; the term toadstool is often reserved for inedible or poisonous sporophores. There is, however, no...
Commercially important, edible mushrooms include portobellos (Agaricus bisporus), whose forms include button mushrooms, cremini, and baby bellas, and shiitake (Lentinula edodes). The morels (Morchella, Verpa) and false morels or lorchels (Gyromitra, Helvella) are popularly included with the true mushrooms because of their shape and fleshy structure; they resemble a deeply folded or pitted conelike sponge at the top of a hollow stem. Some are among the most highly prized edible fungi (e.g., Morchella esculenta). Edible truffles (various Tuber species), which hardly resemble mushrooms, are also popularly labeled as such. These and other edible mushrooms and fungi are free of cholesterol and contain small amounts of essential amino acids and B vitamins. However, their chief worth is as a specialty food of delicate, subtle flavour and agreeable texture. By fresh weight, the common commercially grown mushroom is more than 90 percent water, less than 3 percent protein, less than 5 percent carbohydrate, less than 1 percent fat, and about 1 percent mineral salts and vitamins.
Britannica Quiz
A World of Food Quiz
Poisoning by wild mushrooms is common and may be fatal or produce merely mild gastrointestinal disturbance or slight allergic reaction. It is important that every mushroom intended for eating be accurately identified (see also mushroom poisoning and death cap mushroom).
Umbrella-shaped sporophores are found chiefly in the agaric family (Agaricaceae), members of which bear thin, bladelike gills on the undersurface of the cap from which the spores are shed. A few mushrooms belong to the order Boletales, which bear pores in an easily detachable layer on the underside of the cap. The sporophore of an agaric consists of a cap (pileus) and a stalk (stipe). The sporophore emerges from an extensive underground network of threadlike strands (mycelium). An example of an agaric is the honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea). Mushroom mycelia may live hundreds of years or die in a few months, depending on the available food supply. As long as nourishment is available and temperature and moisture are suitable, a mycelium will produce a new crop of sporophores each year during its fruiting season.
Fruiting bodies of some mushrooms occur in arcs or rings called fairy rings. The mycelium starts from a spore falling in a favourable spot and producing strands (hyphae) that grow out in all directions, eventually forming a circular mat of underground hyphal threads. Fruiting bodies, produced near the edge of this mat, may widen the ring for hundreds of years.
While the agarics and boletes include most of the forms known as mushrooms, other groups of fungi, however, are considered to be mushrooms, at least by laymen. Among these are the hydnums or hedgehog mushrooms, which have teeth, spines, or warts on the undersurface of the cap (e.g., Dentinum repandum, Hydnum imbricatum) or at the ends of branches (e.g., H. coralloides, Hericium caput-ursi). The polypores, shelf fungi, or bracket fungi (order Polyporales) have tubes under the cap as in the boletes, but they are not in an easily separable layer. Polypores usually grow on living or dead trees, sometimes as destructive pests. Many of them renew growth each year and thus produce annual growth layers by which their age can be estimated. Examples include the dryad’s saddle (Polyporus squamosus), the beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica), the sulfur fungus (P. sulphureus), the artist’s fungus (Ganoderma applanatum, or Fomes applanatus), and species of the genus Trametes. The clavarias, or club fungi (e.g., Clavaria, Ramaria), are shrublike, clublike, or coral-like in growth habit. One club fungus, the cauliflower fungus (Sparassis crispa), has flattened clustered branches that lie close together, giving the appearance of the vegetable cauliflower.
Special offer for students! Check out our special academic rate and excel this spring semester!
Learn More
The cantharelloid fungi (Cantharellus and its relatives) are club-, cone-, or trumpet-shaped mushroomlike forms with an expanded top bearing coarsely folded ridges along the underside and descending along the stalk. Examples include the highly prized edible chanterelle (C. cibarius) and the horn-of-plenty mushroom (Craterellus cornucopioides). Puffballs (family Lycoperdaceae), stinkhorns, earthstars (a kind of puffball), and bird’s nest fungi are usually treated with the mushrooms. Another group of ascomycetes includes the cup fungi, with a cuplike or dishlike fruiting structure, sometimes highly coloured.
A mushroom is the fleshy fruiting body of certain fungi, typically of the order Agaricales. Learn about the different types, forms, and uses of mushrooms, as well as their cultivation, poisoning, and ecology.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
A mushroom (probably Russula brevipes) parasitized by Hypomyces lactifluorum resulting in a "lobster mushroom". Typical mushrooms are the fruit bodies of members of the order Agaricales, whose type genus is Agaricus and type species is the field mushroom, Agaricus campestris.
Any of various fungi that produce a fleshy fruiting body, which usually consists of a stalk topped by an umbrella-shaped cap. Many mushrooms are basidiomycetes. Some species of mushrooms are edible, though many are poisonous. The term mushroom is often applied to the stalk and cap alone.
any one of many types of fast-growing fungus (= plants without leaves or flowers) with a round top and short stem, many of which are used as food: wild mushrooms. mushroom soup. a pizza with mushrooms.
3 days ago · Learn the meaning, pronunciation, and usage of the word mushroom as a noun, adjective, and verb. Find out the origin, synonyms, and related words of mushroom in British and American English.
mushroom. noun. /ˈmʌʃrʊm/, /ˈmʌʃruːm/. /ˈmʌʃrʊm/, /ˈmʌʃruːm/. a fungus with a round flat head and short stem. Many mushrooms can be eaten. a field mushroom (= the most common type that is eaten, often just called a ‘mushroom’, and often grown to be sold) fried mushrooms. cream of mushroom soup.
