Cap mushrooms: structure, functions, examples

A huge variety of different mushrooms grow on Earth, edible and inedible, poisonous and beneficial. Cap mushrooms are more common and well-known. Read about their functions, structure and parameters in the article.

What are cap mushrooms?

This concept unites mushrooms that have similar characteristics, functions and body structure. The group “cap mushrooms” is represented by both edible and healthy and inedible and poisonous species.

They are equipped with caps and legs. But not all. In some species, the body of the fetus is formed by only one cap in the form of an irregularly shaped growth. Common and popular for humans are cap mushrooms such as porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, milk mushrooms and others.

The structure of mushrooms

The structure of the cap mushroom of the vast natural kingdom is simple. It has a fruiting body formed by a cap and a stalk. The main part of the fungus is the mycelium, located in the soil. It is called mycelium, which is white branching threads. Mycelial cells have two nuclei.

The structure of the cap mushroom is such that the cap and stem consist of threads that are tightly connected to each other. They are identical at the stem, but at the cap they form the upper and lower layers. The surface of the top layer is covered with skins of different colors. The bottom layer of some mushrooms, for example, buttercup, boletus or white mushroom, has tubes. They are called tubular mushrooms. In plants such as saffron milk caps, russula and russula - plates, the mushrooms are accordingly called lamellar.

Edible mushrooms

Today, four thousand varieties of cap mushrooms are known, and only a few hundred of them are edible. There are mushrooms that are suitable for consumption only when they are processed by salting, cooking, and drying. They are called inedible, but should not be confused with poisonous ones. Edible cap mushrooms are divided into four groups:

• Porcini mushroom, real milk mushroom, saffron milk cap.
• Butterfly, boletus, champignon, boletus, boletus.
• Moss mushroom, black milk mushroom, morel, chanterelle, autumn honey fungus.
• Russula, govorushka, oyster mushroom, umbrella mushroom.

Porcini

It is called boletus, but it has nineteen other names. The porcini mushroom is the king of the mushroom community. It is edible, has high nutritional value, a pleasant aroma and has an excellent taste, for which it is valued by chefs.

Boletuses grow up to thirty centimeters in height or more. The cap is light yellow or dark brown, depending on the place of growth and age of the mushroom.

Grows everywhere, except for forests with a predominant majority of aspen and alder. It grows everywhere in Eurasia, North America, and less commonly in Lebanon and Syria. There are many boletus mushrooms in Russia, especially in young forests.

Chanterelles

These mushrooms are edible, they are so called because of their color. She is bright red. In nature, chanterelles are found with a pale yellow color. Mushrooms prefer to grow at night, where they were not there the day before.

There are many varieties of this mushroom in nature. In Russian forests, the most popular are the common (real), yellow, tubular, and funnel-shaped chanterelles. The habitat is swamp hummocks of deciduous and coniferous forests. Particular preference is given to areas with low grass stand. Chanterelles love to grow in large groups.

Poisonous mushrooms

They differ from edible ones in the presence of toxic substances called toxins. Their consumption is fraught with serious poisoning, and in many cases, poisonous cap mushrooms cause death. The nature of poisoning varies; according to this criterion, poisonous mushrooms are divided into three groups:

• Food poisoning.
• Poisoning, as a result of which the activity of the nervous system is disrupted.
• Poisoning leading to death.

Bile mushroom

It is a type of poisonous mushroom. It is also called false porcini mushroom or mustard mushroom. Prefers coniferous forests and sandy soil. Occurs rarely, from July to October.

The diameter of the cap reaches ten centimeters, it is dry and smooth. It comes in brown or brown color. In young mushrooms it is convex, and in old ones it gradually acquires a flat-convex shape.

The thick flesh is soft, white, and pinkish when cut. It has no odor and tastes bitter. The stem is of medium length and thickness and has a creamy ocher color. It is covered with a dark brown mesh pattern. The poisonous mushroom has an external resemblance to boletus.

Death cap

This mushroom is called white and green fly agaric. It is the most dangerous of all poisonous mushrooms. Prefers broad-leaved, coniferous, birch forests and oak forests. It grows in groups and singly from June until frost. You don't see him often.

The diameter of the cap is ten centimeters. In young mushrooms it has a white or grayish color, and in older specimens it is grayish-green. The thin pulp is white in color and has no taste or smell. The leg is long, smooth and thin. It's hollow inside. It has a white color with a yellowish tint and a striped ring.

This mushroom is deadly poisonous. In case of poisoning, the first signs appear after 8-12 hours. But sometimes much later, after 20-40 hours after eating mushrooms.

Propagation of cap variety mushrooms

This process is carried out by spores that have great endurance. Their shell is dense. It performs the function of protecting spores from overheating during periods of extreme heat, and hypothermia during winter cold. This type of reproduction is called asexual.

Fruiting bodies in the lower part have plates or tubes that increase the surface area that light, small spores need for their formation. When the spores find themselves in an optimal environment, they begin to germinate into hyphae. Due to their growth and branching, mycelium (mycelium) is formed - the vegetative part of the fungus, which can remain in this state for a long time. Reproduction occurs when spores are formed in the fruiting body.

Cap mushrooms form their bodies in late summer or early autumn. But this does not apply to morels and strings, which are spring mushrooms. When the spores mature, they begin to fall off and are spread by wind, insects or animals over long distances. In most fungi, the mycelium has cells with a binuclear structure, which, after fusion, contribute to the growth of the mycelium and the formation of new fruiting bodies.

Nutrition

Varieties of cap mushrooms feed on ready-made substances of organic origin, which are taken from their environment. It works like this: the mycelium absorbs nutrients from the soil, causing the forest floor and wood to decompose. Organic substances are formed that feed the body of the fungus.

In many species, the mycelium, with its numerous threads, entwines the roots of shrubs and trees, penetrates inside and forms mycorrhiza (fungal root). So water containing minerals is absorbed by the mycelium and nourishes the fruiting body. This feeding method is characteristic of mycorrhizal fungi.

Examples of cap mushrooms of this variety are almost the entire large group of them with a tubular structure of the lower part of the body of the fruit: pig mushrooms, fly agarics, chanterelles, milk mushrooms, russula, saffron milk caps and others.

The formation of mycorrhiza in one fungus occurs with one tree species, and in another - with several. The porcini mushroom's partners are spruce, oak, pine, and birch trees, the saffron milk cap has pine and spruce trees, and the boletus has birch, spruce, and pine trees. But the deciduous butterfly has only one partner - larch, while the black milk mushroom and the black milkweed have a birch. From here the main function of mushrooms is determined - providing nutrition to tree species: aspens, birches, pines, spruces and others. Without fungi involved in the formation of mycorrhiza, trees cannot develop normally.

Another, no less important function is that saprophytic fungi, which are the majority of cap varieties, are involved in the decomposition of dead herbaceous and woody plant debris. As a result of this process, organic substances are converted into mineral ones. They are well absorbed by plants and processed back into organic ones.

The third function is that rotted litter ensures the normal existence of the forest. It is formed by mushrooms, being part of its large community. In the forest, mushrooms are never superfluous. Specimens that are unnecessary to humans are needed by the forest. Therefore, you should not destroy, compact or trample the litter in which the mycelium is located. Its absence is the main reason for forest destruction.

How to grow mushrooms?

The fruiting body of edible mushrooms contains a large amount of useful and nutritious substances. For this reason, they are grown artificially. Champignon mushrooms are very popular for cultivation.

Special workshops with shelving in several tiers are being built. They are filled with well-fertilized soil into which the mycelium is planted. Temperature and humidity conditions are constantly monitored in the workshops. Optimal conditions are maintained for rapid germination of fruiting bodies. On a plot of one square meter you can grow twenty kilograms of mushrooms. During one year, the crop is harvested five times.

Application of mushrooms

Edible mushrooms have been used for food since ancient times, when people were still engaged in gathering. They were boiled, salted, and dried. Currently, first courses are prepared from mushrooms, used in salads, to decorate dishes, in sauces and seasonings.

Hat varieties are widely used in medicine using traditional methods of treating diseases. The porcini mushroom is applied to frostbitten parts of the body. A laxative is prepared from false mushrooms, and a medicine against tuberculosis is prepared from pepper mushrooms. Pale toadstool in tiny doses treats cholera.