Drugs & Medication

Agaricales
Amanita muscaria (Agaricaceae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi Division: Basidiomycota Class: Homobasidiomycetes Order: Agaricales
Families
Agaricaceae Amanitaceae Bolbitiaceae Cortinariaceae Crepidotaceae Entolomataceae Fistulinaceae Hygrophoraceae Omphalotaceae Pleurotaceae Pluteaceae Podaxaceae Psathyrellaceae Schizophyllaceae Strophariaceae Tricholomataceae

The order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gills), or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has about 4,000 species, or one quarter of all known homobasidiomycetes. They range from the ubiquitous button mushroom to the deadly destroying angel and the hallucinogenic fly agaric to the bioluminescent jack-o-lantern mushroom.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Distribution and habitat 3 Characteristics 4 Life cycle 4.1 Propagation 5 External links

Classification

Some notable fungi with gill-like structures, such as chanterelles, have long been recognised as being substantially different to usual Agaricales. Interestingly, molecular studies are showing other groups as being more divergent than previously thought, such as the genera Russula and Lactarius belonging to a separate order Russulales, and other gilled fungi, including such species as Paxillus involutus and Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca showing a closer affinity with Boletes in the order Boletales.

Also, some other quite distinctive fungi, the puffballs and the Beefsteak fungus have been recently been shown lie within the Agaricales.

Distribution and habitat

Agarics are ubiquitous, being found across all continents except Antarctica. Although all are terrestrial, their habitats include all types of woodland and grassland, varying largely from one species to another.

Characteristics

Basidiocarps of the agarics are typically fleshy, with a stipe, often called a stem or stalkm a pileus (or cap) and lamellae (or gills), where basidiospores are stored. This is indeed the stereotyped structure of what we would call a mushroom or toadstool.

Life cycle

The agarics' life cycle is very much representative of the basiodiomycetes. Clamp connections are present in the dikaryons of several species, but that is not always the case.

Propagation

The agarics always have their basiodiospores ejected from the basidium into the area between gill edges. The spores are then let fall to the ground or carried by the wind.

External links

• The Gilled Mushrooms ("Agaricales")
• Moncalvo JM, et al. 2002. One hundred and seventeen clades of euagarics. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23:357-400. Available from: http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/faculty/moncalvo/117clade.pdf