AGARIC: A mushroom with gills.
ATTACHED: Connected to the stalk (refers particularly to gills, tubes, or other spore-producing structures).
BASAL: At or of the base of a mushroom stalk.
BASE: The bottom end of a mushroom stalk.
BOLETE: A mushroom with a cap, a stalk, and a detachable layer of tubes with a visible pore surface.
BROAD: Wide, as measured from the edge of the gill to the cap flesh (refers to gills).
BULBOUS: Swollen (refers to the base of a stalk).
BUTTON: An immature mushroom, especially one with a partial or universal veil.
CAP: The top part of some mushrooms, the undersurface of which bears the gills, tubes, or other spore-producing structures.
CLUSTERED: Having several mushroom stalks that are fused at the base.
CONCENTRIC: Arranged in circles, one around another.
CONIFER: A tree, such as pine, spruce, or fir, that produces seeds in cones.
CUTICLE: A layer of tissue on the top surface of a mushroom cap.
DECIDUOUS: A tree, such as a hardwood, that doesn’t produce seeds in cones and typically sheds its leaves annually.
DEPRESSED: Sunken at the center (refers to the top surface of a mushroom cap).
DESCENDING: Attached to and extending somewhat down the stalk (usually refers to gills, pores, or other spore-producing structures).
DOME SHAPED: Having a rounded upper surface, like an upside-down mixing bowl (refers to the shape of a mushroom cap).
DUFF: Dead plant matter, especially leaves or conifer needles, on the forest floor.
FLESH: The interior tissue of a mushroom cap (excluding the gills, tubes, or spines) or stalk.
FORAY: A search, especially for gathering edible wild mushrooms, plants, berries, or other food.
FORKED: Branching in a Y pattern.
FREE: Not connected to the stalk (refers to gills, tubes, or other spore-producing structures). (Note: To be sure that a mushroom’s gills are truly free from the stalk, examine the top end of the stalk to rule out vertical lines indicating that the gills were attached but have since separated.)
GILLED MUSHROOM: A mushroom with gills.
GILLS: Flat-sided, bladelike radial structures on the undersurface of some mushroom caps.
GLEBA: The interior tissue of a puffball that matures into a powdery mass of spores.
GROUPED: Several specimens quite close to one another, but not clustered.
HABITAT: The kind of environment a specific fungus requires.
HUMUS: Dead organic matter (e.g., plants, leaves, dung) on the forest floor.
HYPHAE: Microscopic threads of fungal cells.
INCURVED: Curled in toward the stalk somewhat (refers to the edge of a mushroom cap).
INROLLED: Curled in and up (refers to the edge of a mushroom cap).
LARVAE: Insects in an immature, wingless stage, typically looking like tiny worms.
LATERAL: Attached directly to and extending out from the edge of a mushroom cap (refers to a mushroom stalk).
LATEX: A fluid leaked by the cut or damaged gills or flesh of some mushrooms.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION: Cutting a mushroom in half lengthwise (from top to bottom) through the cap and stalk.
MYCELIUM: A mass of hyphae, typically hidden in a substrate.
MYCOLOGIST: A person who studies mushrooms and other fungi.
MYCOLOGY: The study of mushrooms and other fungi.
MYCOPHAGIST: A person who eats mushrooms.
MYCOPHAGY: The use of mushrooms as food.
MYCOPHOBIA: The fear of mushrooms, especially the fear of eating them.
MYCORRHIZAL: Having a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with a tree or other plant.
NARROW: Not wide, typically a measure of the gills from their edge to the cap flesh.
NOTCHED: Distinctly narrower at or near the stalk (refers to attached gills).
OFF CENTER: Attached somewhat away from the center of the cap undersurface but not attached directly to the edge of the cap (refers to a mushroom stalk).
PARASITIC: Deriving nourishment from another organism at the other organism’s expense.
PARTIAL VEIL: A layer of fungal tissue that covers the gills or pores of an immature gilled mushroom or bolete.
PERENNIAL: Living for longer than one year (refers to a mycelium).
POLYPORE: A mushroom with a layer of tubes that cannot be easily separated from the cap flesh.
PORES: The open ends of the tubes of a bolete or polypore.
PORE SURFACE: The undersurface of the cap of a bolete or polypore where the open ends of the tubes are visible.
RADIAL: Pointed away from a common central point, like the spokes of a wheel.
RING: Remnant of a partial veil that remains attached to the stalk after the veil ruptures.
SAPROBIC: Deriving nourishment from such dead organic matter as wood or humus.
SCABERS: Small, stiff, granular points on the surface of some boletes’ stalks.
SCALY: Having scales (refers to a mushroom stalk or cap surface).
SERRATE: Jagged or “toothed” (refers to gill edge).
SPINE FUNGI: Mushrooms that have spines.
SPINES: Tapered, typically downward-pointing projections on a mushroom cap’s undersurface.
SPORE: A microscopic reproductive cell with the ability to germinate and form hyphae.
SPORE PRINT: A deposit of spores from a mushroom’s gills, tubes, or other spore-producing structures on a piece of paper.
STAINING: Changing color when bruised or cut, or in age.
STALK: A typically cylindrical structure that arises from the substrate and supports the cap of a mushroom.
STALKLESS: Lacking a stalk.
SUBSTRATE: Organic matter that serves as a food source for a fungal mycelium.
TEETH: Spines that point downward.
TOOTH FUNGI: Spine fungi.
TUBES: Narrow, parallel, spore-producing cylinders on the undersurface of the cap of a bolete or polypore.
UNIVERSAL VEIL: A layer of fungal tissue that completely encloses immature specimens of some mushrooms.
VEIL: A layer of fungal tissue that covers all or part of some immature mushrooms (see Partial veil and Universal veil).
VOLVA: A typically cuplike sac that remains around the base of a mushroom stalk when the universal veil ruptures.
WARTS: Small patches of tissue that remain on the top of a mushroom cap when the universal veil ruptures.
ZONES: Concentric, circular bands of different colors on the top surface of a mushroom cap.