Mushroom is a common ingredient, but have you ever thought about what kind of creature the word "mushroom" actually refers to? How do they live? How do mushrooms grow?

 

The word "mushroom" has two meanings in the context of modern Chinese. The broad sense of "mushroom" refers to the large reproductive structure produced by some fungi - fruiting bodies, such as mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, straw mushrooms, Flammulina velutipes and so on, which can be collectively referred to as mushrooms. In a narrow sense, "mushroom" refers to some edible fungi belonging to the genus Agaricus of the Mushroom Family of Umbelliferae, such as Agaricus bisporus, which often appears in canned mushrooms and is the most productive edible fungus in the world.

 

 

 

Mushrooms are sold with vegetables in the market. Are they plants? A long time ago, taxonomists classified fungi including mushrooms as plants, but with the development of biology, many differences were found between fungi and plants. Now, molecular evidence shows that fungi and animals are more closely related than plants, so mushrooms are no longer regarded as plants.

 

What are the differences between mushrooms and plants? One of the most obvious differences is the way nutrients are obtained. Green plants can use chloroplasts in their cells to photosynthesize organic compounds such as sugars needed for life activities by using carbon dioxide in water and air under sunlight. This type of nutrient is called autotrophy. Mushrooms, like humans, cannot make their own organic nutrients through photosynthesis, but need to be obtained from the outside world. This type of nutrient is called heterotrophy.

 

Mushrooms do not have the same digestive system as our humans to digest and absorb nutrients. They absorb nutrients by mycelia. It is common to see a phenomenon on the grassland. After a heavy rain, a lot of mushrooms suddenly appeared on the grassland. These mushrooms did not appear out of nowhere. Before the rain, their hyphae had lived quietly in the soil for a long time. Taking Agaricus bisporus as an example, we can see that the umbrella-like mushroom is a reproductive structure, called fruiting body. Umbrella stalk is called fungus stalk. Umbrella cap is called fungus cap. The fine fold on the back of umbrella cap is called fungus fold. There is a fine structure on fungus fold called basidium. When basidium matures, it releases asexual germ cells - spores. Spores germinate hyphae in suitable environment. The hyphae absorb sugar, minerals, vitamins and other nutrients from the environment, and eventually grow and aggregate into fungal cords. When the environment is wet and suitable for mushroom spores germination after rain, fruiting bodies will grow on the fungal cords, releasing a new generation of spores.

 

 

 

Artificial cultivation of mushrooms, in fact, is to simulate the various natural conditions needed for mushroom life, such as Agaricus bisporus, artificial cultivation needs to use manure, straw, bean cake as a medium, to provide various nutrients to its mycelia, and then adjust the air temperature and humidity to the most suitable growth range of Agaricus bisporus, when the mycelium grows full of the medium, you can wait for harvest. Yes.