- Agaric
An agaric is a type of
fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus that is clearly differentiated from the stipe, with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. "Agaric" can also refer to abasidiomycete species characterized by an agaric-type fruiting body. An archaic usage of the word agaric meant ‘tree-fungus': from Latin agaricum, however that meaning was superseded by the Linnaean interpretation in 1753 whenLinnaeus used the generic name "Agaricus " for gilled mushrooms.Most species of agarics are classified in the
Agaricales , however, this type of fruiting body is thought to have evolved several times independently, hence theRussulales ,Boletales ,Hymenochaetales , and several other groups of basidiomycetes also contain agaric species. Older systems of classification place all agarics in the Agaricales, and some (mostly older) sources still use "agarics" as a common name for the Agaricales. Contemporary sources now tend to use the term euagarics when referring only to members of the Agaricales. "Agaric" is also sometimes used as a common name for members of the genus "Agaricus ", as well as for members of other genera, for example, "Amanita muscaria " is sometimes called "fly agaric".External links
* [http://americanmushrooms.com/agarics.htm "Gilled Mushrooms"] at AmericanMushrooms.com
* [http://www.mykoweb.com/articles/Homobasidiomycete_clades.html "Evolution & Morphology in the Homobasidiomycetes"] by Gary Lincoff & Michael Wood, "MykoWeb.com"
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