Fruiting bodies

Fruiting bodies (karposoma) are the reproductive organs of multicellular fungi . They correspond to what is commonly referred to as a " mushroom ". Biologists understand a fungus to mean the entire organism, including the parts that are usually hidden in the substrate or soil and are referred to as mycelium . If one compares mushrooms with higher plants, the fruit bodies of the mushrooms correspond to the flowers of the plants. The fruiting body is also known as the sporocarp because the meiospores necessary for sexual reproduction are formed in it. It consists of branched, more or less intergrown hyphae , which form the spore-forming structures and are therefore also referred to as generative hyphae . If the environmental conditions are favorable - especially temperature, humidity and nutrient supply - they can grow quickly. In the past, the shape of the fruiting body was a very important criterion for the systematic classification of fungi, but more recent molecular biological studies have shown that the fruiting body morphology says little about the relationships between a fungus.

Types of fruiting bodies

Basidiocarp or Basidiomata

With the stand mushrooms (Basidiomycota) the fruiting bodies are called Basidiocarp or Basidiomata. They are called stand mushrooms because the spores are formed on special, stand-like hyphae, the basidia . The spores develop on the basidia, fall off and are mostly spread by the wind (examples: champignons , porcini mushrooms ).

Ascocarp or Ascomata

The hose mushrooms (Ascomycota) is called ascomata or Ascokarpen . The spores mature here in tube-like or sac-like cells called asci . The spores are sometimes literally thrown out of the asci (examples: morels , truffles ).

Teleomorphic or main fruit form

In the case of large mushrooms , the primary purpose of the fruiting bodies is to form the haploid meiospore necessary for sexual reproduction . Such fruit bodies are also called the main fruit form or teleomorph .

Anamorphic or minor crop form

In many Ascomycetes, but also in some Basidiomycetes, asexually reproductive spores - so-called conidiospores - are formed via mitotic division . The fruit bodies that form these spores are called anamorphic or minor fruiting form. In the case of some lower fungi, only asexual reproduction is known via the anamorph. Such mushrooms are also known as Fungi imperfecti .

Fruit body shapes

The fruiting bodies of mushrooms can be shaped very differently. The shape of the fruiting body is an important determinant. Basically, one differentiates between the fruiting bodies according to whether the hymenium (fruit layer) is on the outside of the fruiting body, on the underside or inside the fruiting body.

Hymenium on the surface or flanks of the fruiting body

Resupinate fruiting bodies: Resupinat is a fruiting body that is spread out over the entire surface of the host or substrate. The edge also rests on and is not curved upwards. They occur both in mushrooms and in mushrooms. In the fruit body type, the fruit layer ( hymenium ) can be distributed over the entire surface.

Corticioid fruiting bodies: Corticiode fruiting bodies are resupinate fruiting bodies, which are crust-shaped and spread out flat on the substrate without the rim or the edge of the hat sticking out. The growth form is typical for many bark and layer mushrooms.

Cup-shaped fruiting bodies

Clavarioide fruiting bodies: Clavarioid fruiting bodies are club-shaped or coral-shaped, as is typical for wooden clubs ( Xylaria ), meadow clubs ( Clavulinopsis ) and corals ( Ramaria ).

Flesh-red cystid bark fungus ( Peniophora incarnata ) with resupinate or corticoid fruiting bodies
Orange-red cup ( Aleuria aurantia ) with cup-shaped fruiting bodies
Multiform wooden club ( Xylaria polymorpha ) with club-shaped fruiting bodies
Orange-yellow mountain coral ( Ramaria largentii ) with a coral fruiting body

Hymenium on the underside of the hat

Pileate or hat-shaped fruiting bodies: The fruit body is hat-shaped or console-shaped. The hymenophore , which is covered by the fruit layer, is on the underside of the hat. The hymenophore has the task of enlarging the surface of the fruit layer by means of lamellae, spines or tubes. Fruiting bodies with a hat, a central stem and lamellae are also known as agaricoid , as their structure is similar to that of a mushroom ( Agaricus ). If they have tubes instead of the lamellae, they are called boletoid ( i.e. similar to a boletus ). Fruiting bodies with a short, lateral stalk are also called pleurotoid , as this is the typical growth form of the mushrooms ( pleurotus ). Mushrooms with fan-shaped fruiting bodies are called flabelliform .

Effuso-reflex fruiting bodies: Effus (o) reflex (ical) fruit bodies are also known as half resupinate . These fruit bodies also lie on the substrate, but the edges are bent upwards like a hat.

Steroids fruiting bodies: Stereoid fruit bodies are semi-resupinate fruit bodies as they are typical for many bark and layer mushrooms .

Sekotioid fruiting bodies: Sekotioid fruit bodies are in an intermediate stage between cap fungus and belly fungus. With them, the stem is often almost completely reduced and only recognizable as Columella in the hat part . The hat only opens incompletely or not at all. The lamellae are only partially present or not at all and are replaced by a chambered or spongy-porous gleba . The spores no longer fall off, but are dusted.

The fly agaric has an agaricoid fruiting body (hat, stem and lamellae)
The boletus has a pileaten, boletoid fruiting body (hat, stem and tubes)
The oyster mushroom has a pileaten, pleurotoid fruiting body with a lateral stalk.
Many species from the genus Stereum have effuso-reflex fruiting bodies, which are often referred to as stereoid.
Arcangeliella crassa is a mushroom with a secotoid fruiting body from the dairy family relationship

Hymenium inside the fruiting body

Gasteroide or sequestrate fruiting bodies: Gasteroid is the name given to mushrooms in which the spores are formed inside the fruiting body, in the so-called gleba . Usually these mushrooms are simply called belly mushrooms (gastromycetes). The gleba, the spore-forming, fertile interior of the fruiting body, lies above the sterile sub-gleba and, in some belly mushrooms, is separated from it by a parchment-like separating layer, the diaphragm . Gleba and Subgleba are enclosed by one of the peridia , the outer shell of the fruiting body. The peridia is usually built up in several layers. The inner layer of a two-layer peridia is called endoperidia , the outer one is called exoperidia . Fruiting bodies that have a pre-shaped opening for spore spreading are called angiocarp, those without a pre-shaped opening are called cleistocarp. Earth stars have a vertex opening of the endoperidia, which is known as a peristome , they have angiocarpic fruiting bodies, while the fruiting bodies of truffles, which have no opening, are cleistocarpic.

In the past, the belly mushrooms were viewed as an independent family group, but more recent molecular biological studies have shown that belly mushrooms within the Basidiomycetes developed several times independently of one another.

The term sequestrat is often used in recent literature . Basidio- or Ascomycetes are called sequestrat, which do not actively release their spores, but in which the basidia or asci mature inside the fruiting body. The name can be used for real truffles as well as for truffle-like or secotioid fruit bodies.

The bottle dusting has a gasteroid fruiting body.
In the case of earth stars, too, the spores are formed inside the fruiting body.
Only in its youth as a witch's egg is it recognizable that the stinkhorn is actually a belly mushroom.
In the mature stinkhorn, the spore-forming gleba can be seen as a black-green mass on the hat.

Position of the fruiting bodies

Epigeic fruiting bodies: The fruiting bodies grow above ground, as is the case with most mushrooms. Fungi with aboveground fruiting bodies are also known as epigees .

Hypogean fruiting bodies: Fruiting bodies that grow underground in the ground, as is typical for truffles or false truffles , are called hypogean . Mushrooms with underground fruiting bodies are also called hypogea.

Fruiting bodies in bacteria

Bacteria of the genus Myxobacteria , such as Myxococcus xanthus or Stigmatella aurantiaca , are also capable of fruiting body formation. These arise at the end of an extraordinarily complex life cycle for prokaryotes through the formation of a multicellular structure of up to over 0.5 mm in size. The fruiting bodies are therefore partially recognizable with the naked eye. Depending on the species, individual or branched fruit bodies can arise. The fruiting bodies contain myxospores , which serve the bacteria primarily as a unit of distribution and less as a form of persistence.

literature

Hans Otto Schwantes: Biology of the mushrooms . 1st edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8252-1871-6 .
Ewald Gerhardt: Röhrlinge, Porlinge, Belly mushrooms, Ashlar mushrooms and others . In: mushrooms. Spectrum of nature, BLV intensive guide . tape 2 . BLV, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-405-12965-6 , p. 22-26 .

Web links

Commons : fruiting bodies (from mushrooms) - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : various fruiting body shapes - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Hermann Jahn: Stereoide mushrooms in Europe (Stereaceae Pil. Emend. Parm. Et al., Hymenochaete) . with special consideration of their occurrence in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Westphalian mushroom letters . VIII., No. 4-7 , 1971 ( Westphalian mushroom letters [PDF; 5,7 MB ]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Ewald Gerhardt (Hrsg.): Pilze Volume 1: Lamellar mushrooms, deafblings, milklings and other groups with lamellas . Spectrum of nature FSVO. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-405-12927-3 , p. 34-37 .
^ ^A ^b ^c German Josef Krieglsteiner (Ed.): Die Großpilze Baden-Württemberg . Volume 1: General Part. Stand mushrooms: jelly, bark, prick and pore mushrooms. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3528-0 , pp. 53-55.

[Jahn-1] Hermann Jahn: Stereoide mushrooms in Europe (Stereaceae Pil. Emend. Parm. Et al., Hymenochaete) . with special consideration of their occurrence in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Westphalian mushroom letters . VIII., No. 4-7 , 1971 ( Westphalian mushroom letters [PDF; 5,7 MB ]).

[gerhardt-2] Ewald Gerhardt (Hrsg.): Pilze Volume 1: Lamellar mushrooms, deafblings, milklings and other groups with lamellas . Spectrum of nature FSVO. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-405-12927-3 , p. 34-37 .

[Krieglsteiner-3] A ^b ^c German Josef Krieglsteiner (Ed.): Die Großpilze Baden-Württemberg . Volume 1: General Part. Stand mushrooms: jelly, bark, prick and pore mushrooms. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3528-0 , pp. 53-55.