Mushrooms:
Mushrooms, also known as toadstools, are a type of fungus that is fleshy and flowerless. Mushrooms are produced on the ground and on soil. It sometimes also grows on things that act as source of food for mushrooms. Some mushrooms are edible but mostly are very deadly and poisonous. Mushrooms have gills that produce microscopic spores that spread the fungus in the area where mushrooms grow. Gilled mushrooms are also called agarics.
Term Mushroom:
Term mushroom have been derived from the French word mousseron. In the 15th and 16th centuries many different words similar to mushroom like mushrum, Smushrom, muscheron and musserouns etc were used. The word mushroom represents the type of fungus that may or may not have stem, a cap and gills under the cap. Mushrooms are also called toadstools because toads sometimes use them as stools.
Categories of Mushrooms:
There are many types of mushrooms, some of them are edible and some of them are poisonous and some of them cause hallucination. All types of mushrooms are categorized into three categories
- Edible mushroom
- Poisonous mushrooms
- Medicinal or psychoactive mushrooms
Edible Mushrooms:
Mushrooms are very beneficial for health; they provide vitamins, fats and other important nutrients to the human body. But not all mushrooms are edible. The most safest type of mushroom that humans can use is Agaricus biparous. These mushrooms grow in a sterilized, and controlled environment. Agaricus biparous mushrooms are usually grown by farmers with great care and protection. Crimini, whites and portobello are further varieties of agaricus biparous. These mushrooms can easily be availed from supermarkets and other grocery stores. Consumption of mushrooms directly from the wild can be dangerous to health because there is not even one common trait through which a person can differentiate between poisonous or edible mushrooms, so person should be careful about that.
Edible mushrooms are mostly grown and used by countries like japan, china and korea. These countries grow many different types of edible mushrooms and use them in their cooking. China produces the most mushrooms in whole world.
Poisonous Mushrooms:
Secondary metabolites are organic compounds that are produced by bacteria or fungus. These metabolites are not directly involved in the development and growth of the human body but can sometimes be very dangerous for the human body. Poisonous mushrooms produce this toxic, hallucinating and mind-altering secondary metabolites. Not all these mushrooms are deadly, but they can have a severe impact on the human body’s functions. Amanita phalloides is one of many poisonous mushrooms. These mushrooms are of very small size and have green and black colored caps with white stems. It is the deadliest type of mushroom found in Europe wild areas. Thus, a person should avoid consuming mushrooms from wild areas.
Medicinal or psychoactive mushrooms:
As the name indicates psychoactive mushrooms are used in the production of medicines all around the world. Psychoactive mushrooms are most commonly used in the production of psychic related medicines. For example, Psilocybin zapote Corum mushroom is used in the production of migraine related medicines.