What kind of spores are produced by mushrooms

Many fungi form a fruitbody shaped as a mushroom, a shelf-like bracket, a puffball, a coral or simply like a splash of paint. The main purpose of the fruitbody is to produce spores so that the fungus can spread. Spores of mushrooms form on special hyphae on the surface of thin gills that form in a circle hanging on the underside of the cap. The cap has a curved shape poroharore so that the rain droplets run off and the spores keep dry. Mushrooms must shed their spores fast as both mushrooms and spores often live for only a few days.

If you use a microscope to make the spores look much larger, you can see them clearly. Check out the spore print activity to learn how to make a print from spores of a mushroom.

Using microscopes to identify fungi parts — adapt our Ferns under the microscope activity so students can have a closer look at different fungi — and why not build in some additional learning about How microscopes magnify? Mushroom spores — learn how to make a print from spores of a mushroom.

The Science Learning Hub would like to acknowledge Manaaki Whenua — Landcare Research and the writers for their permission and help to adapt this publication for the web. The plants share nutrients derived from photosynthesis with the fungi in exchange for fungal nutrients acquired from the soil.

Many mother trees also use their mycorrhizal networks to share nutrients with their saplings to help them grow. Some fungi, such as yeast, are microscopic and do not produce visible mushrooms. Mushrooms are grown as part of sexual reproduction in fungi. To reproduce sexually, two mycelial colonies must be near enough to join their hyphae and transfer their genetic material.

Each type of mushroom has a different variation of this basic structure. Mushrooms come in an immense variety of colors and patterns. Some mushrooms are edible, while others are highly poisonous to help protect their spores.

The gills are the source of spores in a mushroom. Specialized hyphae produce spores so small that 1, or more could fit on a pinhead inside the gills. The majority of fungi use the wind to disperse their tiny spores. There are few species of fungi relative to other organisms. However, fungi seem to be everywhere and can utilize just about any material for food. One reason that they seem to occur everywhere is that they produce large number of spores that often can be dispersed long distances.

Moreover, fungal spores also have other attributes that ensure their survival. Spores are often less susceptible to adverse environmental conditions than the mycelium or yeast cells and germination of spores oftentimes will not occur until environmental conditions are optimal for their survival.

When Carl Sagan, the noted astronomer, spoke of the numbers of stars in galaxies, he is always stereotypically thought of as saying that there are "billions and billions" of stars. After the sexual process of reproduction has begun, the mushroom forms the structures of a "fruiting body" that will eventually produce and disperse spores.

Immature fruting body. The mature fruiting body can have various structures. The picture at left is that of an Amanita , one type of mushroom. The fruiting body may contain a cap, stalk, ring, volva, and gills.

The cap normally houses the spore producing surface of the fruiting body. In the case of the Amanita , the spore-producing cells are in the gills, but in other types of mushrooms, spores are produced in tubes or inside the cap.

By comparing this illustration to the spore above, it is evident which parts of the spore develop into specific structures of the fruiting body. Mature fruiting body. Types of Mushrooms.