Mushroom bodies are formed by what? Features of the body structure of the fungus

The kingdom of mushrooms includes many species. Lower fungi belong to microorganisms. To see them a person can only if only through a microscope or on spoiled food. Higher mushrooms have a complex structure and larger sizes. They can grow on the ground and on tree trunks, find them where there is access to organic substances. Mushroom bodies are formed by thin, closely fitting hyphae. These are the species that we are used to picking up in baskets, walking through the forest.

Higher fungi are agaric

Perhaps, each person has an accurate idea of what an ordinary mushroom looks like. Everyone knows where they can grow and when they can be found. But in reality, representatives of the mushroom kingdom are not so simple. They differ in form and structure. The bodies of fungi are formed by the plexus hyphae. Most of the known species have a leg and a hat, which can be painted in different colors. Virtually all the fungi that people use for food are referred to the order of agaric. This group includes such species as champignons, valuvia, ryzhiki, chanterelles, mushrooms, whites, freckles, etc. So it is worth studying the structure of these fungi in more detail.

General structure of higher fungi

The bodies of fungi are formed by woven giant multinucleated cells - hyphae, making up the Plectenchyma. Most of the hat-shaped representatives are of the order of agaric, it is clearly divided into a round-shaped cap and leg. This external structure also has some species related to the aphyllophoric and morel. However, even among the agrarian there are exceptions. In some species, the stem may be lateral or absent altogether. And in the Gasteromycetes, the fungal bodies are formed in such a way that no such unit is identified, and they have no hat. They have a tuber-like, clavate, spherical shape or the appearance of a star.

The hat protects the skin, under which there is a layer of pulp. It can have a bright color and smell. The leg or stump is attached to the substrate. It can be soil, a living tree or an animal's corpse. Penecks, as a rule, are dense, its surface differs depending on species. It can be smooth, scaly, velvety.

The higher mushrooms reproduce in sexual and asexual ways. The overwhelming majority forms disputes. The vegetative body of the fungus is called mycelium. It consists of thin branching hyphae. Gifa is an elongated thread that has vertex growth. They may not have partitions, in which case the mycelium consists of one giant multinucleated, highly branched cell. The vegetative body of fungi can develop not only in soil rich in organic substances, but also in the wood of live and dead trunks, on stumps, roots and much less often on shrubs.

The structure of the fruit body of the capillary mushroom

Fruit bodies in most agarics are soft and juicy. When they die, they tend to rot. The period of their life is very small. Some mushrooms can take only a few hours from the time of their appearance above the ground to the final stage of development, less often it lasts a couple of days.

The fruiting body consists of a cap and a centrally located stem. Sometimes, as was said above, the leg may be absent. Hats come in various sizes, from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters. Walking through the woods, you can see how small mushrooms with a small cap from the little finger were grown from the ground on thin tender legs. And next to them can sit a heavy mushroom giant. His hat grows to 30 cm, and the leg is heavy and thick. Such impressive sizes can boast of white mushrooms and mushrooms.

The shape of the cap is also different. Separate pillow-shaped, hemispherical, flattened, campanulate, funnel-shaped, with a bent downward or upward edge. Often during a short life the fungus changes its shape several times.

The structure of the mushroom cap is of the order of agaric

Hats, like the body of fungi, are formed by hyphae. Above them is a dense skin. It also consists of the covering hyphae. Their function is to protect internal tissues from loss of vital moisture. Thus, the peel prevents drying. It can be colored in different colors depending on the type of fungus and its age. Some peels are white, others bright: orange, red or brown. It can be dry or, on the contrary, covered with thick mucus. Its surface is smooth and scaly, velvety or warty. In some species, for example, butter, the peel is easily removed completely. But with raw rides and freckles, it lags behind only on the edge itself. In many species, it is not removed at all and is firmly connected to the pulp that is under it.

Under the skin, therefore, the fungus's fruiting body is formed by the flesh-a barren tissue built from the plexus hyphae. It is different in density. The flesh of some species is loose, others are elastic. It can be brittle. This part of the fungus has a specific odor. It can be sweet or nutty. The aroma of the flesh of some species is acrid or pepper-bitter, it happens with a pomegranate and even garlic tinge.

As a rule, in most species the flesh under the skin is on a cap of light color: white, lactic, brownish or greenish. What are the features of the body structure of the fungus in this part? In some species, the color remains the same over time, while in others the color changes sharply. Such changes are explained by oxidative processes of coloring substances. A striking example of this phenomenon is the aspen-tree. If you make a cut on his fruit body, then this place will quickly darken. The same processes are observed in the moss and bruise.

In the pulp of species such as freckles, mushrooms and ginger, there are special hyphae. Their walls are thickened. They are called the milky ways and filled with a colorless or colored liquid - juice.

Hymenium - the fertile layer

The fruiting body of the fungus is formed by the flesh, beneath which directly beneath the cap is a fertile layer - the hymns. This is a series of microscopic spore-bearing cells - basidium. The overwhelming number of agaric hymenium is located openly on the hymenoptera. These are special projections located on the underside of the cap.

The hymenophore in different species of higher fungi has a different structure. For example, in chanterelles, it is presented in the form of thick branched folds that descend to their pedicle. But the blackberry hymenophore - in the form of brittle spines, which are easily separated. Tubular mushrooms form tubules, and lamellar plates, respectively. The hymenophore may be free (if it does not reach the stem) or is attached (if it fuses tightly with it). Gimenium is necessary for reproduction. Of the spores spreading around, a new vegetative body of the fungus is formed.

Spores of mushrooms

The structure of the fruit body of the fungus is not complex. His spores develop on fertile cells. In all agaric fungi they are unicellular. As in any eukaryotic cell, the spore distinguishes the membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus and other cellular organelles. Also, they show a large number of inclusions. The size of the spores is from 10 to 25 microns. Therefore, they can be considered only in a microscope with good magnification. In shape, they are round, oval, spindle-shaped, grain-shaped and even stellate. Their shell also differs depending on the species belonging. In some spores, it is smooth, others prickly, bristly or warty.

When entering the environment, spores tend to resemble a powder. But the cells themselves are both colorless and colored. Often among the fungi there are spores of yellow, brown, pink, reddish-brown, olive, violet, orange and even black. Scientists-mycologists pay much attention to the color and size of the spores. These signs are stable, and they often help in determining the species of fungi.

Structure of the fruit body: mushroom foot

The appearance of the fungal body is familiar to almost everyone. The leg, like the cap, is formed from tightly intertwined hyphal filaments. But these giant cells are distinguished by the fact that their shell is thickened and has good strength. The leg needs a mushroom to support. She lifts it above the substrate. The hyphae in the leg are connected in bundles that are adjacent to each other in parallel and go from bottom to top. So on them comes water and mineral compounds from the mycelium to the cap. The legs are distinguished in two types: solid (hyphae pressed closely) and hollow (when between the hyphae the cavity is visible - the larvae). But in nature there are intermediate types. Such legs have bruise and chestnut. In these species, the outer part is dense. And in the middle of the leg is filled with spongy flesh.

Everyone who has an idea of how the appearance of the fruit body of the fungus is, knows that the legs differ not only in structure. They have different shapes and thicknesses. For example, the russet and oily legs are smooth and cylindrical. But in all known podberezovikov and boletus, it gradually expands to its base. There are also a backbulb shaped form of hemp. It is very common among agaric fungi. This leg has a noticeable enlargement at the base, which sometimes turns into an onion bulb. This form of hemp is most often detected in large species of fungi. It is characteristic for fly agarics, cobwebs, umbrellas. Fungi, in which the mycelium develops on the wood, often have a narrowed to the base of the foot. It can be elongated and move into a rhizomorph that stretches under the roots of a tree or stump.

So, what does the fungal body consist of? This is the leg that lifts it above the substrate, and the hat, in the lower part of which develops spores. Some species of fungi, for example, fly agaric, after the formation of the terrestrial part are covered for some time with a whitish shell. It is called a "general blanket." As the fruit body of the fungus grows, its pieces remain on the round cap, and on the basis of the hemp there is a baggy-like formation - the volva. In some mushrooms it is free, while in others it grows and looks like thickening or platens. Also, the remnants of the "common veil" are the belts on the stem of the fungus. They are noticeable in many species, especially at an early stage of development. As a rule, in young mushroom belts cover the forming hymenophore.

Differences in the structure of caplets

Parts of the body of the fungus are different in different species. Fruit bodies of some are not similar to the structure described above. There are exceptions among agaric fungi. And there are many such species. But the lines and morels are only outwardly reminiscent of agaric mushrooms. Their fruiting bodies also have a clear division into a bonnet and a leg. The hat is fleshy and hollow. Its shape is often conical. The surface is not smooth, but rather ribbed. The stitching of a wrong-shaped hat. It is covered with easily perceptible winding folds. Unlike agaric fungi, the morels have a sporiferous layer on the surface of the cap. It is represented by "bags" or asks. It is a container in which spores are formed and accumulated. The presence of such a part of the body of the fungus, as an asci, is common to all marsupial fungi. The leg of morels and pods is hollow, its surface is smooth and even, at the base - a noticeable tuberous thickening.

Representatives of a different order - afifloforovye mushrooms, also have hatched fruiting bodies with a pronounced stem. This group includes chanterelles and blackberries. Their bonnet is a rubbery or slightly woody structure. A striking example of this is the mushrooms, which are also included in this order. As a rule, the affilophore fungi do not rot, as is the case with agaric ones with their fleshy body. When they die, they dry up.

Also, the fungi of the order of rolling-rod mushrooms differ somewhat in structure from most hat-shaped species. Their fruiting body has a clavate or coral shape. It is completely covered with hymn. An important feature of this order is the absence of a hymenophore.

The structure of the Gasteromycete is also unusual. In this group the body of the fungus is often called a tuber. In species entering this order, the form can be the most diverse: globose, stellate, ovoid, pear-shaped and nest-shaped. Their size is rather big. Some mushrooms of this order reach a diameter of 30 cm. The most striking example of Gasteromycetes is the giant raincoat.

Vegetative body of fungus

The vegetative body in fungi is called their mycelium (or mycelium), which is located in the ground or, for example, in wood. It consists of very thin threads - hyphae, the thickness of which varies from 1.5 to 10 mm. Hyphae strongly branched. The mycelium develops both in the substrate and on its surface. The length of the mycelium in such nutritive ground, as, for example, forest litter, can reach 30 km per 1 gram.

So, the vegetative body of fungi consists of long hyphae. They grow only at the apex, that is, apically. The structure of the mycelium is very interesting. Mycelium in most species is noncellular. It is devoid of intercellular partitions and is one giant cell. There is not one but a large number of cores in it. But the mycelium can be cellular. In this case, under the microscope, the partitions separating one cell from the other are clearly visible.

Development of the vegetative body of the fungus

So, the vegetative body of the fungus is called the mycelium. Getting into a moist substrate, rich in organic substances, the spores of the mushrooms grow. It is from them that the long threads of the mycelium develop. They grow slowly. Only by accumulating a sufficient amount of nutritious organic and mineral substances, the mycelium forms on the surface fruit bodies, which we call mushrooms. Their very beginnings appear in the first month of summer. But finally they develop only with the onset of favorable weather conditions. As a rule, there are a lot of mushrooms in the last month of summer and in the autumn period when the rains come.

The nutrition of the cap-shaped species is not at all similar to the processes occurring in algae or green plants. They can not synthesize the organic substances they need. There is no chlorophyll in their cells. They need ready-made nutrients. Since the vegetative body of the fungus is represented by hyphae, it is they that promote the absorption of water from the substrate with mineral compounds dissolved in it. Therefore, mushrooms prefer rich humus forest soils. Less often they grow on meadows and in the steppe. Most of the organic substances they need are taken from the roots of trees. Therefore, most often they grow in close proximity to them.

For example, all lovers of quiet hunting know that white mushrooms can always be found near birches, oaks and firs. But delicious rozhiki you need to look in the pine forests. Podberezoviki grow in birch groves, and boletus - in aspen. This is easily explained by the fact that the fungi establish a close relationship with the trees. As a rule, it is useful to both species. When the thickly branched mycelium flies the roots of the plant, it tries to penetrate into them. But this does not harm the tree at all. The thing is that, located inside the cells, the mycelium from the soil sucks out the water and, of course, the mineral compounds dissolved in it. In this case, they also enter the cells of the roots, which means that they serve as food for the tree. Thus, the overgrown mycelium performs the function of root hairs. This is especially useful for old roots. After all, they have no hairs. What is such a symbiosis useful for mushrooms? They receive from the plant useful organic compounds, which they need for nutrition. Only if they are enough, on the surface of the substrate develop the fruit bodies of the head mushrooms.