Agaric

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Agaric

An agaric is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus

Pileus (mycology)

The pileus is the technical name for what is commonly known as the cap of a fungal fruiting body. It is particularly characteristic of agarics, boletes, and some polypores, tooth fungi, and ascocarps....
(cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe

Stipe (mycology)

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Encyclopedia

An agaric is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus

Pileus (mycology)

Stipe (mycology)

In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the pileus of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphae tissue....
(stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. "Agaric" can also refer to a basidiomycete species characterized by an agaric-type fruiting body. An archaic usage of the word agaric meant ‘tree-fungus': from Latin agaricum, however that meaning was superseded by the Linnaean interpretation in 1753 when Linnaeus used the generic name Agaricus
Agaricus

Agaricus is a large and important genus of mushrooms containing both edible and poisonous species, with possibly over 300 members worldwide....
for gilled mushrooms.

Most species of agarics are classified in the Agaricales

Agaricales

The order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms , or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The Order has about 4,000 identified species, or one quarter of all known Agaricomycetes....
, however, this type of fruiting body is thought to have evolved several times independently, hence the Russulales

Russulales

The Russulales is an order of the Agaricomycetes, .Russuloid agarics represent an independent evolutionary line of agarics, not directly related to the Agaricales....
, Boletales

Boletales

The Boletales are an order of agaricomycetes, containing a large number of species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes....
, Hymenochaetales

Hymenochaetales

The Hymenochaetales is an order of basidiomycete fungi. This group contains a number of corticioid fungi, polypores, such as Inotus and Phellinus, as well as several agaric species, such as Rickenella and Loreleia....
, and several other groups of basidiomycetes also contain agaric species. Older systems of classification place all agarics in the Agaricales, and some (mostly older) sources still use "agarics" as a common name for the Agaricales. Contemporary sources now tend to use the term euagarics when referring only to members of the Agaricales. "Agaric" is also sometimes used as a common name for members of the genus Agaricus
Agaricus

Agaricus is a large and important genus of mushrooms containing both edible and poisonous species, with possibly over 300 members worldwide....
, as well as for members of other genera, for example, Amanita muscaria
Amanita muscaria

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly Amanita, is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita....
is sometimes called "fly agaric".

External links

at AmericanMushrooms.com

by Gary Lincoff & Michael Wood, MykoWeb.com