Why do mushrooms come in so many shapes and colors?
by Dr. Dennis E. Desjardin In technical terms, mushrooms are the charismatic sexual reproductive structures of fungal individuals whose main body (fine, cobweb-like filaments called hyphae) is well hidden in the soil or amongst leaves and rotting wood. The primary role of the mushroom is reproduction-abundant spore production and effective spore dispersal-and its shape reflects this function. The basic strategy is to produce and disperse millions of microscopic spores quickly, so the mushroom is designed to develop rapidly (in one to seven days) and have a maximized surface area for spore production. Mushrooms exhibit many ways a large spore-bearing surface area can be designed. Underneath a cap that provides a structural foundation and protection for the developing spores, some mushrooms (including “agarics” like portobello) produce radiating plates called gills on which the spores are formed. Other species (such as “boletes” like porcini) form a spongelike structure of vertically ori
