Stipe (mycology)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Stipe (mycology)

In mycology

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, including their genetics and biochemistry properties, their taxonomy, and ethnomycology as a source for tinder, medicine , food , entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection....
a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap

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....
of 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...
. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium

Hymenium

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Stipe (mycology)'

Start a new discussion about 'Stipe (mycology)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

In mycology

Mycology

Pileus (mycology)

Mushroom

Hymenium

The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidium or ascus, which produce spores....
, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal tissue. In many instances, however, the fertile hymenium extends down the stipe some distance. Fungi that have stipes are said to be stipitate.

The evolutionary benefit of a stipe is generally considered to be in mediating spore

Spore

In biology, a spore is a reproduction structure that is adapted for biological dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions....
dispersal. An elevated mushroom will more easily release its spores into wind currents or onto passing animals. Nevertheless, many mushrooms do not have stipes, including: cup fungi, 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, earthstar

Geastraceae

The earthstars are the family Geastraceae of puffballs Basidiomycota . It includes the genera Geastrum and Myriostoma. About 60 species are classified in this family, divided among 8 genera....
s, some polypore

Polypore

Polypores are a group of tough, leathery poroid mushrooms similar to boletes, but typically lacking a distinct stalk. The technical distinction between the two types of mushrooms is that polypores do not have the spore-bearing tissue continuous along the entire underside of the mushroom....
s, jelly fungi

Jelly fungi

The class Heterobasidiomycetes or jelly fungi is a paraphyletic group of several Fungi orders: Tremellales, Auriculariales, Dacrymycetales....
, ergot

Ergot

Ergot refers to a group of fungus of the genus Claviceps . The most prominent member of this group is Claviceps purpurea. This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals consuming seeds contaminated with the fruiting structure of this fungus, called an ergot sclerotium....
s, and smut

Smut (fungus)

The smuts are fungus, mostly Ustilaginomycetes , that cause plant disease.Smuts affect grasses, notably including cereal crops such as maize. They initially attack the plant's reproductive system, forming galls which darken and burst, releasing fungal spores which infect other plants nearby....
s.

It is often the case that features of the stipe are required to make a positive identification of a mushroom. Such distinguishing characters include:

the texture of the stipe (fibrous, brittle, chalky, leathery, firm, etc.)
whether it has remains of a partial veil
Partial veil

Partial veil is a mycology term which describes a structure of some mushrooms which protects the developing gill or other spore-producing surface....
(such as an annulus or cortina
Cortina

Cortina may refer to:* Cortina d'Ampezzo, a town in northern Italy* Cortina sulla strada del vino, a town in northern Italy* Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982...
) or universal veil
Universal veil

The universal veil is a Mycology term to describe a structure that envelops all or most of some gilled mushrooms. The young, developing Agaricus bisporus, which may resemble a puffball at this point, is protected by this egg-like structure....
(volva
Volva (mycology)

The volva is a Mycology term to describe a cup-like structure at the base of a mushroom which is a remnant of the Universal veil. This Macroscopicfeature is very important in wild mushroom identification due to it being an easily observed, taxonomically significant feature which almost always signifies a member of Amanitaceae....
)
whether the stipes of many mushrooms fuse at their base
its general size and shape
whether the stipe extends underground in a root-like structure (a rhizome
Rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal plant stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes....
)

When collecting mushrooms

Mushroom hunting

Mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking and similar terms describe the activity of hunter-gatherer mushrooms in the wild, typically for eating....
for identification it is critical to maintain all these characters intact by digging the mushroom out of the soil, rather than cutting it off mid-stipe.