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Mushrooms are the only structures produced by macrofungi that are visible to the naked eye, which were formed during the sexual reproduction phase. They appear almost magically after the first autumn rains. These structures represent the “fruit” of the fungus where mature spores are formed that will lead to new fungi. Mushrooms have various shapes, colours and dimensions, in order to favour spores’ dispersion by the wind or animals. The preferred seasonal period for mushroom production is autumn but they may also appear in winter and spring, when the ideal conditions of temperature and humidity, for each species, are present. Fungi assume different nutrition strategies: saprobes, which extract nutrients through decomposition of various substrates of plants or dead animals; mycorrhizal, that establish symbiotic relationships with the roots of some plants facilitating the absorption of water and other elements essential to the plant, and receive, in exchange, nutrients; or parasites, that use plants or animals to withdraw nutrients. |
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SPECIES |
