Mushroom Glossary
Taken from: Lincoff, Gary H., The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1981
Agaric A mushroom bearing gills on the undersurface of its cap.
Amyloid Turning blue-black in Melzer's reagent; used in reference to the spore walls or the surface ornamentation of the spores.
Ascus The saclike cell in which spores are produced by mushrooms of the subdivision Ascomycotina (Plural, asci).
Basidium The club-shaped cell in which spores are produced by mushrooms of the subdivision Basidiomycotina (plural, basidia).
Bolete A fleshy mushroom bearing a tubelike layer on the undersurface of its cap and belonging to the family Boletaceae.
Bruising Changing color when handled.
Cap The top or head of a mushroom.
Capillitium Sterile threads mixed with the spores in the psore cases of some puffballs and slime molds (plural, capillitia).
Carminophilous Becoming dark-dotted in a solution of acerocarmine; used in reference to microscopic basidia.
Chlamydospore An asexual spore developing from unspecialized hyphae.
Clamp A bridgelike structure attached to two adjacent hyphae over a cell cross-wall in some basidiomycetes.
Cluster A group of mushrooms rising together from the same spot, typically touching and often attached at the base.
Conidiospore An asexual spore developing from specialized hyphae.
Coniferous Cone-bearing.
Conk A large, woody, hoof-shaped polypore growing on wood.
Cortina A cobwebby tissue that covers the immature gills in Cortinarius.
Cup The saclike tissue at the stalk base of some volvariellas and amanitas, left by the universl veil after it has ruptured.
Cuticle The surface cell layer of a mushroom.
Cyanophilous Turning blue in a solution of cotton-blue; used in reference to a spore wall.
Cystidium A sterile cell on the cap, gills, or stalk of many basidiomycetes, especially gilled mushrooms.
Deciduous Shedding leaves annually, and leafless for part of the year.
Deliquesce To dissolve; used in reference to the gills of inky caps.
Depressed Sunken.
Descending Running down the stalk; used in reference to gills or pores.
Dextrinoid Turning reddish-brown in Melzer's reagent; used in reference to the spore walls or their surface ornamentation.
Disc The central portion of the cap.
Egg The immature button stage of amanitas and stinkhorns; one of the spore sacs in a bird's-nest fungus.
Evanescent Disappearing quickly.
Fairy Ring An arc or circle of gilled mushrooms or puffballs, arising from a mycelium that expands outward from a central point.
Fertile Surface The spore-bearing surface, or hymenium, or a mushroom.
Flesh The interior tissue of a mushroom.
Free Not attached to the stalk; used in reference to gills.
Fruiting Body The reproductive portion of a fungus; typically appearing above ground.
Fungus An organism, traditionally included in the plant kingdom, that lacks chlorophyll and possesses spores.
Gill One of the radial, bladelike plates that bear spores, located on the undersurface of the cap of many mushrooms.
Gleba The spore mass of a gasteromycete.
Hymenium The spore-bearing surface (plural, hymenia).
Hypha One of the filamentous threads that make up the body of a fungus (plural, hyphae).
Incurved Rolled or bent inward.
KOH A 3 - 10 percent solution of potassium hydroxide in water; used to test color reactions.
Lateral Attached at the edge; used in reference to stalks that are thus attached to caps.
Latex A clear, milky, or colored liquied that exudes from cut surfaces, especially in the genus Lactarius.
Margin The edge of a mushroom cap.
Milzer's Reagent A solution of 20 cc of water, 1.5 gm of potassium iodide, 0.5 gm of iodine, and 20 gm of chloral hydrate; used to test color reactions in spores or certain mushroom tissues.
Micron One one-thousandth of a millimeter; the unit used to measure microscopic features.
Mushroom The fruiting body of a fungus.
Mycelium The vegetative portion of a fungus (plural, mycelia).
Mycology The scientific study of fungi.
Mycorrhiza A symbiotic association between a fungus and the root ends of a flowering plant (plural, mycorrhizae).
Ornamented Decorated with warts, ridges, wrinkles, or a netlike pattern; used in reference to spore surface.
Parasitic Living in or on another animal or plant and deriving food from it.
Partial Veil A tissue that covers and protects the immature gills or tubes of some gilled mushrooms and boletes.
Peridiole A small, egglike structure that contains the spores; found in some gasteromycetes.
Peridium The outer layer of the fruiting body of a gasteromycete.
Perithecium A minute flask-shaped vessel containing the asci in a pyrenomycete (plural, perithecia).
Pore The mouth or opening of teh tube in boletes and polypores.
Revive To resume an earlier shape and function when exposed to water.
Rhizomorph A cordlike strand of mycelium at the base of a mushroom.
Ring The remnants left by a partial veil after it has ruptured; located on the stalk.
Ring Zone The remnants left on a stalk by a thin or cobwebby partial veil after it has ruptured.
Saprophyte An organism that takes nourishment from dead organic matter.
Scale A torn piece of the cap or stalk surface.
Seta A bristle-shaped sterile cell, usually colored, on the surface of some polypores and a few agarics (plural, setae).
Shelflike Stalkless; typically growing from wood.
Solid Filled with dense flesh.
Spore The reproductive unit in a fungus.
Spore Mass The portion of a gasteromycete containing the spores.
Spore Print The pattern made by the spores as they are discharged from gills or tubes.
Stalk The portion of a mushroom that supports the cap and elevates it sufficiently for adequate spore dispersal.
Stuffed Filled with loose flesh.
Symbiont An organism that lives in a mutually beneficial relationship, or symbiosis, with another organism.
Toadstool Popular term for a poisonous mushroom.
Tube A hollow cylinder that contains the bassidia where spores are produced in a bolete or polypore.
Universal Veil A tissue that encloses the entire immature stage of some gilled mushrooms and boletes.
Veil A tissue that covers and protects the immature stage of some gilled mushrooms and boletes; called a universal veil when it encloses the entire immature mushroom and a partial veil when it covers only the gills or tubes.
Volva A saclike cup or tissue surrounding the stalk base, left after the universal veil has ruptured.
Zoned With distinct bands.