The Mushroom Life Cycle

Spores within an individual species are fairly constant in their shape and structure. However, many mushroom species differ remarkably in their spore types. Some are smooth and lemon shaped (in the genus Copelandia, for instance) many are ellipsoid (as in the genus Psilocybe), while others are highly ornamented and irregularly shaped (such as (hose in Lactariusor Entoloma). A feature common to the spores of many mushrooms, particularly the psilocybian species, is the formation of an apical germ pore. 

Two dikaryotic mycelial networks can also grow together, exchange genetic material and form a new strain. Such an encounter, where two hyphal systems fuse, is known as anastomosis. When two incompatible colonies of mycelia meet, a zone of inhibited growth frequently forms. On agar media, this zone of incompatibility is visible to the unaided eye. 

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Having a basic understanding of the mushroom life cycle greatly aids the learning of techniques essential to cultivation. 

Kathleen Harrison, for permission to use her drawings of the psilocybe life-cycle, and the Bee-Mushroom Goddess from the Tassili Plateau. 

Most fungi produce two or three different types of spores during their life cycles fungi that cause rust diseases may produce five different types. Spores may be produced on fruiting bodies that range in size from microscopic to the size of a basketball. Mushrooms and truffles are also fruiting bodies. 

Mushrooms fruit in response to unique sets of conditions invoiving nutrition (substrate), temperature, pH, reiative humidity, iight and carbon dioxide. What foiiows are outiines pinpointing the optimai environmentai ranges for each stage in the mushroom s life cycle. By adhering to these optima, a cultivator can maximize fruitbody production in a precise and deliberate fashion. 

Psiiocybe cubensis is a mushroom with psychoactive properties, containing up to 1 % psilocybin and/or psilocin per dried gram. The function of these serotonin-like compounds in the life cycle of the mushroom is not known. 

Three brassinosteroids have been used to speed up the life cycle of fungi in vitro. These are brassinolide, 24-epibrassinolide, and 22S,23S-homobrassinolide all of which increased mycelial growth by a factor of 2-3 and induced earlier sporocarp formation in Psilocybe cubensis and Gymnopilus purpuratus (20). P. cubensis forms part of the group known as the sacred mushrooms employed satisfactorily in religious ceremonies by Mexican Indians. One of the biologic y active compounds contained in Psilocybe is psilocybin which has been isolated, synthesized and used in the study of schizophrenia (19). The effects with 22S,23S-... 

We now turn to treatments and antidotes, including serums. One of the more drastic measures is called intubation with charcoal (of which mycologists who deal with poisonous mushrooms are well aware), whereby the patient s blood is withdrawn and cycled through a charcoal filter. The toxins are adsorbed by the charcoal. Unfortunately, other life-giving constituents of the blood are also adsorbed, making the treatment a dubious procedure at best. In the case of poisonous mushrooms, for instance, vomiting or a stomach pump may suffice, or a massive injection of peni-cilUn, etc. 

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