Mushrooms are a separate class in the kingdom of living nature, which cannot be attributed to either plants or animals. They combine the features inherent in both. Mushrooms grow almost everywhere. However, they differ significantly in appearance: some are found in the forest, and some can even be found on a concrete wall at the entrance of a residential building.
On the one hand, mushrooms are very similar to plants, on the other hand, they do not contain chloroform, which means that they are not able to independently produce nutrients under the influence of sunlight, they do not give flowers and do not take root. Therefore, like animals, they need ready-made organic substances.
Types of mushrooms
The mushroom world is very diverse, there are over one hundred thousand species of mushrooms only registered, and this is far from the limit. Among them are the usual edible and inedible inhabitants of forests and fields, and microscopic unicellular subspecies - yeast, bacteria, mold.
In the visible (terrestrial) fungus, spores mature - microscopic particles, which, upon further ingestion into the nutrient medium, give life to new fungi.
In fact, a mushroom is not at all what people are used to seeing on the surface. A mushroom is primarily a mycelium, or mycelium - a web of grayish-white filaments. The mycelium is located underground, and in the case of microscopic fungi, on the surface of the nutrient medium. It is the mycelium that carries out all metabolic processes inside the fungus. What appears on the surface is a small part of the fungus, its fruiting body, the main function of which is reproduction.
Mushroom growth
When the mycelium does not meet any obstacles in its path, it spreads in a circular manner from the place where the spore germinated, constantly increasing the radius. In Russian forests, mycelium grows by an average of 15-20 centimeters per year and can last up to 20-30 years. The fruiting bodies of mushrooms themselves grow and develop quickly and are very short-lived.
The fungus grows to an acceptable size in just 3-6 days, and only lives for a couple of weeks.
For the existence and development of any kind of fungi, first of all, water is needed. Therefore, in a dry climate, mushrooms do not grow, but after heavy rains, on the contrary, they become more active. Microscopic subspecies do not need water, but a moist nutrient medium, so they often coexist with a relative - mold, which allows mycelium to grow.
Each vegetation zone has its own specific mushroom flora. The reason for this is that most types of mushrooms need a certain set of mineral elements and nutrients, and, therefore, they take root only on certain types of soil, have a characteristic color and appearance.
So, boletus, as a rule, grow among dense pines, honey agarics can most likely be found in deciduous forests or in open meadows, meadows, and in search of champignons they usually go to open areas. No wonder some mushrooms even got their names from the trees with which they most often adjoin - aspen mushrooms, boletus. Although some mushrooms can adapt to almost any environment.
