Morphology terms

The vocabulary used across every record, in the order a specimen is examined. Each term is defined once and used consistently — where two words are often used interchangeably in the field, that is stated rather than smoothed over. · 48 terms

Adnate gills直生菌褶

Gills joined to the stem along their full depth, meeting it at a right angle with no notch. The commonest attachment in the field and the easiest to misread on a specimen whose stem has swollen with water.

Adnexed gills弯生菌褶

Gills that narrow sharply and attach to the stem by only a small part of their depth. The distinction from adnate rests on a single millimetre of tissue and should be confirmed with a hand lens.

Amyloid淀粉质

Turning blue-black in Melzer's iodine — iodine trapped in helical wall polysaccharides. Read amyloid reactions at 1000x against a white field, and read them fast.

Annulus菌环

The ring left on the upper stem when the partial veil tears. A ring that can be slid up and down the stem is a separate structure; a ring that is fused to the stem surface at both edges is not.

Appendiculate margin附属物边缘

A cap margin fringed with fragments of the partial veil. Genuinely diagnostic on Amanita and on a few Lepiota, where it separates species that otherwise key out identically.

Basidium担子

The club-shaped cell of the hymenium that bears spores on its surface, usually four per basidium. In many genera the sterigmata are long enough to be counted at 400x on a fresh gill edge.

Cheilocystidium褶缘囊状体

A cystidium on the gill edge, seen only on a radial section of the gill face at the margin. Diagnostically the highest-value cystidium, and the first one to be lost if you cut the gills the wrong way.

Clamp connection锁状联合

A microscopic hook bypassing a septum, guaranteeing one nucleus per cell. Its presence or absence is fixed at genus level and cannot be judged from a dried cap alone.

Context菌肉

The fleshy interior tissue of cap or stem. Record its colour before and after cutting; the change at the cut face, not the static colour, is the character that discriminates.

Cortina丝膜

A cobweb-like veil of loose fibrils that spans the gap between cap margin and stem, characteristic of Cortinarius. It rarely survives handling; photograph the intact margin before you touch the specimen.

Cyanophilic嗜蓝性

Staining blue in cotton blue in lactophenol, a property of the wall rather than of the ornamentation. Because the stain pools between warts, a cyanophilic spore reads as a photographic negative.

Cystidium囊状体

A sterile terminal cell of the hymenium, larger or differently shaped than the basidia. Cystidia are the most stable microscopic character in a genus; they survive drying better than any spore dimension.

Decurrent gills延生菌褶

Gills running down the stem for a measurable distance. Measure that distance in millimetres; a gill that merely touches the stem and turns down for one millimetre is not decurrent.

Deliquescent液化

Turning to black ink as the spores mature, so that gills autodigest from the margin inward. Once the process starts, no spore print can be taken from that fruit body.

Dextrinoid类糊精质

Turning reddish-brown to rusty in Melzer's iodine, the intermediate state between amyloid and inamyloid. The commonest false reading comes from running the test on over-mature spores whose walls have already thickened unevenly.

Dolipore septum桶孔隔膜

The barrel-shaped pore apparatus in the hyphal septa of most basidiomycetes, flanked by parenthesomes. Visible at 1000x in cotton blue on a squash mount of fresh context.

Ectomycorrhiza外生菌根

A symbiosis in which fungal hyphae sheath tree rootlets and exchange minerals for sugars. It makes the fruit body a direct function of the standing trees, which is why habitat is a real character and not background description.

Fairy ring仙人环

A ring of fruit bodies formed by centrifugal growth of a single mycelium through uniform turf. The ring's radius tracks the age of the mycelium, and its advance can be measured year on year.

Free gills离生菌褶

Gills that do not reach the stem, leaving a clear gap. Judge it on a longitudinal section of a young fruit body; on an over-mature one the gills may have grown back into contact with the stem.

Germ pore芽孔

A thin, unstained patch in the spore wall through which the germ tube exits. It is apical in most dark-spored agarics and truncates the spore outline, which is what makes the spore look cut off under the microscope.

Hilar appendix脐突

The short peg where the spore was attached to its sterigma. Its shape — a truncated cone, a flat disc or a long narrow snout — separates genera whose spores are otherwise identical in size.

Hygrophanous水浸状变色

Changing colour as the cap dries, typically from dark and translucent at the margin to pale and opaque at the centre. The transition zone moves as the cap dries and should never be recorded as a fixed character.

Hymeniderm子实层状皮层

A cap surface built of short, club-shaped cells standing side by side, giving a smooth, slightly waxy sheen. Unlike a trichoderm, it does not collapse and so remains readable on dried material.

Hypha菌丝

A single tubular filament of the mycelium, divided by septa and growing only at its apex. Wall thickness and the presence of clamp connections are the two characters worth recording.

Injury stain伤变变色

The colour a fruit body develops where it has been cut, bruised or handled. The stain can take 30 seconds or 30 minutes; a record made at 5 seconds is a record of nothing.

Lamella (gill)菌褶

The thin blade-like hymenophore of agarics, arranged radially from the stem to the cap margin. Gill spacing is measured at the margin, never at the stem, because spacing widens outward on almost every species.

Latex乳汁

Fluid exuded when the flesh or gills of a milkcap are cut. Record the colour at the moment of cutting, the colour after 30 minutes, and the taste only if you are working on a specimen you are prepared to destroy.

Mycelium菌丝体

The vegetative network of hyphae, normally hidden in soil, wood or litter. Where a mycelium is visible at the stem base, note its colour and whether it forms cords or a flat mat.

Partial veil内菌幕

The inner membrane covering the gills while the cap is still closed. It leaves the annulus, or leaves nothing at all on a species whose ring is fugacious.

Pileipellis菌盖皮层

The differentiated outer layer of the cap. Its structure — a trichoderm, a hymeniderm or a cutis of lying hyphae — is the standard way to separate genera whose caps look identical in the field.

Pileus菌盖

The cap: the fertile cover that carries the gills, pores or spines on its underside. Read it as three separate datasets — outline from above, profile from the side, and surface texture under a raking light.

Pleurocystidium褶面囊状体

A cystidium on the gill face rather than the edge. Relatively rare and, where present, usually much larger and more distinctive than the cheilocystidia.

Reticulate stipe网纹菌柄

A stem surface bearing a raised or recessed net. Shallow and deep reticulation are different characters: deep reticulation ridges cast shadows under a raking light, shallow ones vanish.

Rhizomorph菌索

A visible cord of aggregated hyphae, often dark and stringy at the stem base. Its presence links the fruit body to a particular decaying substrate and to a genus more reliably than the cap does.

Saprotroph腐生菌

A fungus that digests dead organic matter — litter, wood, dung — rather than forming a mycorrhiza. Substrate identity is stable across a season; host tree identity is not, so saprotrophs are easier to re-find.

Sclerotium菌核

A hardened resting mass of hyphae, usually underground and often several centimetres across. Finding one attached to the stem base is stronger evidence than any surface character.

Sinuate (emarginate) gills凹生菌褶

Gills that approach the stem, dip sharply upward into a notch, then resume. Sinuate gills plus a white spore print is a combination worth treating with care in the field.

Spore ornamentation孢子纹饰

Warts, ridges, wings or a complete reticulum on the spore surface. Describe the height first (under 0.5 micron, or over), and the connectivity second; the two are independent characters and are routinely conflated.

Spore print孢子印

The mass deposit of spores shed onto a surface overnight. Colour is read from the deposit, never from the gills, and must be read on white paper for pale prints and on black paper for white ones.

Sterigma担子梗

The narrow projection from a basidium that carries a single spore. Sterigma length relative to the spore width is the fastest way to separate short-spored look-alikes in a mixed collection.

Stipe菌柄

The stem supporting the cap. The characters that matter are not length and width but the base: whether it is bulbous, marginate, rooting, or seated in a volval sac.

Striate margin条棱边缘

Radial translucent lines at the cap margin where the gills show through thin tissue. Striations measure hydration: they appear on a wet cap and vanish as it dries, so they are a poor character for a dried specimen.

Trama髓层

The internal tissue of a gill, between the two hymenia. Its arrangement — parallel, divergent or interwoven — carries generic weight and survives drying better than most cap characters.

Trichoderm毛皮层

A cap surface of erect hyphal ends, giving the felted or velvety look. On a juvenile cap the erect ends are intact; on an old one they have collapsed into a flat mat and the structure is no longer readable.

Umbo中凸

A raised central boss on the cap. An umbo is a fixed feature of the mature cap, not a stage of expansion — a young flat cap does not have one to grow into.

Universal veil外菌幕

The outer envelope that encloses the whole young fruit body. Its remnants appear as warts on the cap, as a volva at the base, or as both, and their fate is fixed before the cap opens.

Volva菌托

The sac or ring of tissue left at the stem base by the universal veil. It is usually buried. Excavate the whole base with a trowel instead of pulling the specimen, or the single most important character is the one you destroy.

Zonate cap同心环带菌盖

Concentric bands of alternating colour on the cap surface. Zonation is a surface-pigment phenomenon and is unrelated to the zonation sometimes visible as translucent bands in the flesh.

Kingdom: Fungi · 汉语 · English