Life cycle

A mushroom starts from a very tiny seed-like material, called the spore, which drop down

from the umbrella of the mushroom. A spore is so tiny that its size is no bigger than a grain of icing

sugar. You may not be able to see the individual spores, but what you can see is the accumulation of

fine powder made up of billions of spores that collects under the cap of the mature mushroom. Like

you would see the dusting of icing sugar on an almond bar .

Here is how mushrooms grow. A microscopic thread-like strand (called the hypha) grows

from the spore and spreads in the soil under suitable conditions and having available organic food

material. This thread continues growing and branching, eventually forming an entangled, very fine

three-dimensional mass (called mycelium) that is visible to the naked eye. This network of threads

completely penetrates the organic food source like mold and it keeps growing as long as a food

source is available.

The fruit of the fungus, the mushroom itself, will not sprout from this network of threads

until a sudden environmental change occurs that triggers its growth. It could be a change in moisture

level in the soil or temperature of the air. That is why mushrooms in the wild appear in abundance

particularly in the fall when both temperature and humidity suddenly change and both the soil and

air are moist. The sudden change in spring is not as favorable for mushroom because spring often

brings dry conditions.

Once the change occurs, mushrooms shoot up almost overnight and in large numbers.

Mushrooming" is a common metaphor for a quick proliferation of anything.

Take a closer look

Mushrooms come in all different shapes and sizes. The common domestic variety in

supermarkets is a gilled mushroom. It has three basic parts, the cap and on the underside of the cap

is a ribbed structure called the gills. The cap and the gills are the parts we usually eat. The third part

is the stem, edible in some mushrooms but may be tough in others. The gill produces the tiny

spores. The common button mushroom and portabella are examples of gilled mushrooms.

The second type of mushrooms don’t have gills but a network of tiny, barely visible pores

on the underside of the cap. These are the pore mushrooms and in this type the pores produce the

spores. Pore mushrooms are often very meaty and plump. An example is the porcini, an exotic

mushroom now available in fancier food markets.

TASTINGS Hallucinogenic mushrooms for a trip?

Some mushrooms can transport you to a different level of consciousness. These

hallucinogenic types played, and continue to play, an important role in ceremonial

and religious celebrations of native tribes throughout the world. They are a number

of wild species that contain psychedelic compounds in the form of the alkaloid

psilocybin or psilocin. Don’t look for them in your supermarket produce section.

A third type of mushroom has a different anatomy altogether and doesn't even have the

common mushroom shape. There is no cap, no gills or pores and no stem, just a weird-shaped body.

The morel, familiar to many of us, is a good example of this type. The spores in this mushroom

grow either within the fungus or on the surface. If they grow inside, the billions of spores anxiously

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