What are mushrooms?
Mushrooms are just sporocarps of fungi. The most obvious parts we can see and notice.
What are fungi?
There are three kingdoms of livelihood on earth. Plant, animal and fungi. Fungi they have 10 times or even more species than plants.
Identification
1. The odour; the colours, the shapes etc.
Identification can also be done with sporocarp prints which are from the falls of spores from the caps. Sometimes mushrooms look similar to each other can be totally different species.
Method: take the stalks away and sit the cap on a piece of paper for a few hours.
Timeline of the development of species on earth:
The development of fungi species was followed by plant first and then animal species about 1.5 billion years.
Origin of life
⬇️1.547 billion years ago.
Plants & animals
animals
⬇️10 million years later.
animals & fungi
relationship with plants:
beneficial to each other: Mycelium takes sugar from plants and provides nutrients to plants in return.
harmful fungi: only take sugar but don't give.
relationship with animals:
beneficial to each other: food resources for insects,mammals and birds; and insects help to spread their spores.
harmful fungi: kills animals by living inside of them and take nutrients from their brains (eg. Cordyceps sinensis) and their bodies.
relationship with humans:
Usage: direct food such as fungi sporocarps, the process of food and chemical industry, medicine (eg. cordycepin for cancer; it helps to stop the growth of cancer cells, not sure how exactly it works though).
Some mushrooms species can cause liver and kidney failure even death to humans, but not sure why those chemicals are developed, why it is toxic and how it works.
A lot of scientific works are waiting to be done on fungi.