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The order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gill
Gill (mushroom)

A gill, or lamella, is a papery hymenophore rib under the cap of a mushroom, most often but not always an agaric. As fungi are studied in more detail, several other types of fungi exhibit gills while not members of the Agaricales....
s), or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 has about 4,000 identified species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, or one quarter of all known Agaricomycetes
Agaricomycetes

The class Agaricomycetes includes not only mushrooms but also most species placed in the old outdated taxa Gasteromycetes and Homobasidiomycetes....
. They range from the ubiquitous common mushroom to the deadly destroying angel
Amanita virosa

Amanita virosa, commonly known as the destroying angel or more precisely as European destroying angel, is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita....
 and the hallucinogen
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants

The general group of pharmacology agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: Psychedelic drugs, dissociatives, and deliriants....
ic fly agaric
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....
 to the bioluminescent
Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy....
 jack-o-lantern mushroom.

notable fungi with gill-like structures, such as chanterelle
Chanterelle

Chanterelle or Golden chanterelle is probably the best known species of this genus Cantharellus. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped....
s, have long been recognized as being substantially different from usual Agaricales.






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The order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gill
Gill (mushroom)

A gill, or lamella, is a papery hymenophore rib under the cap of a mushroom, most often but not always an agaric. As fungi are studied in more detail, several other types of fungi exhibit gills while not members of the Agaricales....
s), or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 has about 4,000 identified species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, or one quarter of all known Agaricomycetes
Agaricomycetes

The class Agaricomycetes includes not only mushrooms but also most species placed in the old outdated taxa Gasteromycetes and Homobasidiomycetes....
. They range from the ubiquitous common mushroom to the deadly destroying angel
Amanita virosa

Amanita virosa, commonly known as the destroying angel or more precisely as European destroying angel, is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita....
 and the hallucinogen
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants

The general group of pharmacology agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: Psychedelic drugs, dissociatives, and deliriants....
ic fly agaric
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....
 to the bioluminescent
Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy....
 jack-o-lantern mushroom.

Classification

Some notable fungi with gill-like structures, such as chanterelle
Chanterelle

Chanterelle or Golden chanterelle is probably the best known species of this genus Cantharellus. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped....
s, have long been recognized as being substantially different from usual Agaricales. Interestingly, molecular studies are showing more groups of agarics as being more divergent than previously thought, such as the genera Russula
Russula

Around 750 worldwide species of mycorrhizal mushrooms compose the genus Russula. They are typically common, fairly large, and brightly colored - making them one of the most recognizable genera among mycologists and mushroom collectors....
 and Lactarius
Lactarius

Fungi of the genus Lactarius, sometimes called milk-caps, are characterized by the fact that they exude a milky fluid if cut or damaged....
 belonging to a separate order 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....
, and other gilled fungi, including such species as Paxillus involutus
Paxillus involutus

Paxillus involutus, commonly known as the common- or brown roll-rim, or poison pax, is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, previously considered edible and eaten widely in Eastern Europe and Central Europe....
 and Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca
Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca

Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca, commonly known as the False Chanterelle, is an orange funnel-shaped mushroom which has been confused at times with the true Cantharellus, however recent work shows its affinity lies with the Boletes in the order Boletales....
 showing a closer affinity with Bolete
Bolete

A bolete is a type of fungus fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus that is clearly differentiated from the stipe , with a spongy surface of pores on the underside of the pileus....
s in the order 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....
.

Also, some other quite distinctive fungi, the puffball
Puffball

A puffball is a member of any of a number of groups of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage....
s, and some clavaroid fungi, e.g. Typhula, and the Beefsteak fungus have been recently been shown to lie within the Agaricales.

The term agaric
Agaric

An agaric is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus that is clearly differentiated from the stipe , with lamellae on the underside of the pileus....
 had traditionally referred to Agaricales, which were defined as exactly those fungi with gills. Given the discoveries described above, those two categories are not synonymous (although there is a very large overlap between the two groups).

Distribution and habitat

Agarics are ubiquitous, being found across all continents. Most are terrestrial, their habitats including all types of woodland and grassland, varying largely from one genus to another.

Characteristics

Basidiocarp
Basidiocarp

A basidiocarp, basidiome or basidioma , is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multi-cellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne....
s of the agarics are typically fleshy, with a stipe
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....
, often called a stem or stalk, a pileus
Pileus

Pileus may mean:In science:*Pileus , the "cap" of a mushroom*Pileus , a type of cloud formationIn historic clothing:*Pileus , a style of cap worn by ancient Romans...
 (or cap) and lamella
Lamella

Lamella is a term for a platelike structure, appearing in multiples, that occurs in various situations, such as biology or materials sciences. It implies a thin layer , the same derivation as for `laminate'....
e (or gills), where basidiospore
Basidiospore

A basidiospore is a reproductive spore produced by Basidiomycete fungi. Basidiospores typically each contain one haploid nucleus that is the product of meiosis, and they are produced by specialized fungal cells called basidium....
s are produced. This is indeed the stereotyped structure of what we would call a mushroom
Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem , a cap , and gills on the unde...
.

Life cycle

The agarics' life cycle is very much representative of the basidiomycetes. Clamp connection
Clamp connection

A type of connection found within a single hyphal strand of a Basidiomycete fungus. It ensures that two adjacent hyphal cells each have 2 different Cell nucleus from mating with hyphae of another sexual type....
s are present in the dikaryon
Dikaryon

Dikaryon is from Greek language, di meaning 2 and karyon meaning Nut , referring to the cell nucleus.The dikaryon is a nuclear feature which is unique to some fungi, in which after plasmogamy the two compatible nuclei of two cell pair off and cohabit without karyogamy within the cells of the hyphae, synchronous dividing so that...
s of many species. The agarics always have their basidiospores ejected from the basidium
Basidium

A basidium is a microscopic, spore-producing structure found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the Basidiomycota....
 into the area between gill edges. The spores are then let fall to the ground or carried by the wind.

External links

Moncalvo JM, et al. 2002. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23:357-400.