From the definition of the term mycorrhiza, given at the beginning of the section, it follows that this is a symbiosis of fungi with roots higher plants.
In this regard, symbiotrophic fungi involved in the formation of mycorrhiza are called mycorrhizal fungi, or mycorrhiza formers. These fungi isolated from mycorrhiza into culture (Shemakhanova, 1962) do not form any reproductive organs by which their systematic position could be directly determined. Therefore, to determine mycorrhizal fungi and their connection with a particular tree species or other plant, at different times, various methods.
The simplest method of direct observation in nature is based on external communication, existing between mycorrhiza and ground, mainly cap mushrooms. The connections of mushrooms with plants have been noticed for a long time, and on this basis the names of mushrooms are given according to the tree in the forest under which they grow, for example: boletus, or birch, under a birch; boletus, or aspen, - under the aspen. The close relationship between fungi and plants is evidenced by the cobweb fungus (Cortinarius hemitridus), which, according to the apt expression of E. Melin, an outstanding researcher of mycorrhiza of tree species, follows the birch, like “a dolphin follows a ship”. Observations in nature served as starting points for subsequent investigations and have not lost their significance to this day as an auxiliary method.
Mycorrhiza-forming fungi are determined by the hyphae of fungi, both growing in natural conditions and grown in pure culture, by the serological method, by the method of semi-sterile and sterile cultures. In the process of application, the methods were modified and improved. For example, to determine the types of mycorrhiza-forming species, a method was proposed for identifying mycorrhizal mycelium with the soil mycelium of fungi considered to be mycorrhizal-forming (Vanin and Akhremovich, 1952). The method of pure cultures of fungi and the method of sterile cultures of mycorrhiza are the most accurate and reliable in resolving the issue of the actual participation of certain fungi in the formation of mycorrhiza.
Using various research methods, and especially the method of pure cultures, scientists have determined the composition of mycorrhiza-forming fungi for many tree species: pine, spruce, larch, oak, birch and other coniferous and deciduous species.
Many scientists in our country and abroad have compiled lists of mycorrhizal fungi of various forest tree species. At the same time, different authors give either a larger or a smaller number of fungi that take part in the formation of mycorrhizae of a particular breed.
With regard to the systematic composition of fungi involved in the formation of ectotrophic mycorrhiza, all researchers believe that mycorrhiza-forming fungi belong mainly to the orders of aphyllophoric (Aphillophorales) and agaric (Agaricales) of the class of basidiomycetes (Basidiomycetes). At the same time, the genera of fungi that form ectotrophic mycorrhiza of tree species are most often called: Amanita, Boletus, Cantharellus, Hebe-loma, Lactarius, Tricholoma, etc. Representatives of the order of Gasteromycetes (Gasteromycetales) from basidiomycetes, for example, Geaster, Rhisopogon ; from the class of marsupial fungi (Ascomycetes), for example, Gyromitra, Tuber; from imperfect mushrooms (Fungi inperfecti), for example, Phoma, as well as from other systematic categories.
On the composition of mycorrhiza-forming fungi, their association with some of the main tree species growing on the territory Soviet Union, testifies not full list compiled primarily from published material.
The above list of fungi that form ectotrophic mycorrhiza with the roots of some tree species indicates that their number varies in different species. There are 47 species of mycorrhizal fungi in pine, 39 in oak, 27 in fir, 26 in birch and 21 in spruce. At the same time, mycorrhizal fungi contain fungi both from the group of orders of hymenomycetes and gasteromycetes of the class of basidiamycetes, and from the class of marsupial fungi. Other tree species have fewer mycorrhizal fungi, for example, larch has only 15 species, aspen has 6 species, and linden has even fewer - 4 species.
In addition to the quantitative composition by species and belonging to certain systematic categories, mycorrhiza-forming fungi differ in biological features. So, mycorrhizal fungi differ in the degree of their confinement in their development on the roots of certain plants, in specialization.
Most of the fungi involved in ectotrophic mycorrhiza are not specialized on any one host plant, but form mycorrhiza with many tree species. For example, the red fly agaric (Amanita muscaria Quel.) is able to form mycorrhiza with many coniferous and deciduous tree species. Some species of Boletus, Lactarius, Russula are little specialized, the fruiting bodies of which are often found in combination with certain types of forest trees. For example, late butterwort (Boletus luteus L.-Ixocomus) grows in pine and spruce forests and is confined to the formation of mycorrhiza on pine: birch (Boletus scaber Bull. var. scaber Vassilkov-Krombholzia) forms mycorrhiza mainly on birch roots.
Cenoccocum graniforme is the least specialized among all forest tree mycorrhizae. This fungus was found in the root system of pine, spruce, larch, oak, beech, birch, linden, and 16 other woody plants (J. Harley, 1963). The lack of specialization and promiscuity in relation to the substrate of Cenococcus is indicated by its wide distribution even in soils on which none of the known hosts of the fungus grows. Other non-specialized fungi, such as goat (Boletus bovinus L.-Ixocomus) and common birch (Boletus scaber Bull. var. scaber Vassilkov-Kroincholzia) can be found in the soil in the form of mycelial strands or rhizomorphs.
The small specialization of mycorrhizal fungi is also manifested in the fact that sometimes on the roots of the same tree species in vivo forests, ectotrophic mycorrhiza is formed by several mycorrhizal fungi. Such an ectotrophic mycorrhiza of the root of one tree or a branch of the root, formed by various symbiont fungi, is called by some scientists a multiple infection (Levison, 1963). Just as most mycorrhizal fungi do not have a strict specialization with respect to plant species, host plants do not have a specialization with respect to fungi. Most host plant species can form mycorrhiza with several fungal species, i.e. the same tree can simultaneously be a symbiont of several fungal species.
Thus, the composition of fungi that form ectotrophic mycorrhiza is diverse in terms of systematic features and biological features. Most of them belong to poorly specialized illegible forms that form mycorrhiza with coniferous and deciduous tree species and are found in the soil in the form of mycelial strands and rhizomorphs. Only in some mycorrhizal fungi has a narrower specialization, limited to one plant genus, been revealed.
No less diverse is the composition of fungi that form endotrophic mycorrhiza. Fungi of endotrophic mycorrhiza belong to different systematic categories. Here, first of all, endotrophic mycorrhiza is distinguished, formed by lower fungi, in which the mycelium is non-cellular, non-septate, and higher fungi with multicellular, septate mycelium. Endotrophic mycorrhiza formed by fungi with non-septate mycelium is sometimes called phycomycete mycorrhiza, since non-septate mycelium is found in lower fungi of the phycomycetes class (Phycomycetes). The mycelium of phycomycete mycorrhiza is characterized by a large diameter of hyphae, its endophytic distribution in the tissues of the plant root, and the formation of arbuscules and vesicles inside the tissues. On this basis, endotrophic mycorrhiza is sometimes also called vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza.
In the formation of phycomycete endotrophic mycorrhiza, a group of Rhizophagus fungi takes part, consisting of two phycomycetes Endogone and Pythium, which differ greatly from each other in cultural and other characters.
The composition of fungi of endophytic mycorrhiza with septate mycelium varies depending on the type of mycorrhiza and the group of plants with the roots of which it is formed. Orchids (Orchidaceae) have long attracted the attention of botanists with their variety of forms, methods of reproduction and distribution, and economic value. These fungi have also been studied from the point of view of mycorrhiza, since all representatives of this family are susceptible to infection by fungi and contain fungal mycelium in the cells of the cortex of their absorbing organs. Orchid fungi are in many respects a separate group: they have a septate mycelium with buckles, and on this basis they belong to the basidiomycetes. But since they do not form fruiting bodies in culture, they are assigned to imperfect stages, the genus Rhizoctonia-Rh. lenuginosa, Rh. repens, etc.
At various times, many species of Rhizoctonia have been isolated and described from seeds and adult orchid plants, including perfect stages of basidiomycetes, such as Corticium catoni. The mycelium of basidiomycetes with buckles, isolated from orchids, is attributed to one or another genus by fruiting bodies and other features. For example, Marasmius coniatus forms mycorrhiza with Didymoplexis, and Xeritus javanicus with Gastrodia species. Honey agaric (Armillaria mellea Quel) does not form buckles, but it is easy to identify in the vegetative form by rhizomorphs. It is a mycorrhiza-forming plant in galeol lianas (Galeola septentrional is), gastrodia (Gastrodia) and other orchids.
Heather fungi (Ericaceae) were originally isolated from the roots of lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis idaea), heather (Erica carnea) and boletus (Andromedia polifolia). In culture, these fungi formed pycnidia and were named Phoma radicis with 5 races. Each race was named after the plant from which it was isolated. Subsequently, it was proved that this fungus is a mycorrhiza-forming heather.
Very little is known about the fungi that form peritrophic mycorrhiza. In all likelihood, this includes some soil fungi that can be found in the rhizosphere of different tree species under different soil conditions.
Fungi that envelop the roots of the host plant require soluble carbohydrates as a source of carbon, and in this respect they differ from most of their free-living, that is, non-symbiotic relatives that break down cellulose. Mycorrhizal fungi do at least part of their carbon requirements come from their hosts. The mycelium absorbs mineral nutrients from the soil, and at present there is no doubt that it actively supplies them to the host plant. In studies using radioactive labels, it was found that phosphorus, nitrogen and calcium can enter the roots and then shoots through fungal hyphae. Surprisingly, the mycorrhiza does not appear to be less effective without the hyphae extending from the mycelium "sheath" enveloping the root. Therefore, this "shell" itself must have a good developed abilities absorb nutrients and transfer them to the plant.[ ...]
Mycorrhizal cohabitation (symbiosis) is mutually beneficial for both symbionts: the fungus extracts additional, inaccessible nutrients and water from the soil for the tree, and the tree supplies the fungus with the products of its photosynthesis - carbohydrates.[ ...]
Mushrooms that enter into symbiosis with forest trees most often belong to the group of basidiomycetes - hat mushrooms that combine both edible and inedible species. The mushrooms that we collect with such enthusiasm in the forest are nothing more than the fruiting bodies of mushrooms associated with roots. various trees. It is curious that some mycorrhizal fungi prefer one kind of tree, others - several, and their list may include both coniferous and deciduous trees.[ ...]
Mycorrhizal symbiosis "fungi - plant roots" is another important adaptive mechanism that has developed as a result of low bioavailability of phosphorus. The fungal component of symbiosis increases the absorbing surface, but is not able to stimulate sorption by chemical or physical influences. The phosphorus of fungal hyphae is exchanged for carbon fixed by the symbiotic plant.[ ...]
E who mycorrhizal fungi need soluble carbohydrates.[ ...]
Pain fungi can form mycorrhiza with one, several or even many tree species, systematically sometimes very distant from each other (for example, with conifers and deciduous trees). But it is often observed that a fungus of one species or another is confined to trees of only one species or one genus: larch, birch, etc. Within the same genus - to individual species - they usually turn out to be "insensitive". However, in the case of the pine genus (Rtiv), there is a greater confinement not to the entire genus as a whole, but to its two subgenera: two-needle pines (for example, Scotch pine) and five-needle pines (for example, Siberian cedar). It is impossible not to note such cases when some mycorrhizal fungi, isolated from tree roots, can apparently develop as saprophytes, content with the litter (falling needles, leaves, rotten wood) of those tree species with which they usually form hikorizu. For example, white fungus was found on top of a huge boulder in a pine forest, Asian boletus (a companion of larch) - on a high, rotten stump of a birch growing in a larch forest.[ ...]
M. plants and mycorrhizal fungi. These relationships with fungi are characteristic of most species of vascular plants (flowering, gymnosperms, ferns, horsetails, club mosses). Mycorrhizal fungi can braid the root of the plant and penetrate into the tissues of the root without causing significant damage to it. Fungi incapable of photosynthesis obtain organic substances from the roots of plants, and in plants, due to the branched fungal filaments, the absorptive surface of the roots increases hundreds of times. In addition, some mycorrhizal fungi not only passively absorb nutrients from the soil solution, but also simultaneously act as decomposers and break down complex substances into simpler ones. Through mycorrhiza, organic substances can be transmitted from one plant to another (of the same or different species).[ ...]
There are also mycorrhizal fungi cohabiting with the roots of higher plants. The mycelium of these fungi envelops the roots of plants and helps to obtain nutrients from the soil. Mycorrhiza is observed mainly in woody plants with short sucking roots (oak, pine, larch, spruce).[ ...]
These are mushrooms of the genera Elaphomyces and truffle (Tuber). The last genera form mycorrhiza with woody plants - beech, oak, etc.[ ...]
In the case of endotrophic mycorrhiza, the relationship between the fungus and the higher plant is even more complex. Due to the low contact of the hyphae of the mycorrhizal fungus with the soil, a relatively small amount of water, as well as mineral and nitrogenous substances, enters the root in this way. In this case, biologically active substances such as vitamins, produced by the fungus, probably become important for the higher plant. In part, the fungus supplies the higher plant with nitrogenous substances, since part of the hyphae of the fungus, located in the root cells, is digested by them. The fungus gets carbohydrates. And in the case of orchid mycorrhiza, the fungus itself gives carbohydrates (in particular, sugar) to the higher plant.[ ...]
Almost all types of trees under normal conditions cohabit with mycorrhizal fungi. The mycelium of the fungus wraps around the thin roots of the tree with a sheath, penetrating into the intercellular space. The mass of the finest fungal filaments extending a considerable distance from this sheath successfully performs the function of root hairs, absorbing the nutrient soil solution.[ ...]
One of the most common species of this genus and the entire family is the white fungus (V. edulis, table 34). It is the most nutritionally valuable of all edible mushrooms in general. It has about two dozen forms, differing mainly in the color of the fruiting body and mycorrhizal confinement to a particular tree species. The hat is whitish, yellow, brownish, yellow-brown, red-brown or even almost black. The spongy layer in young specimens is pure white, later yellowish and yellowish-olive. On the leg there is a light mesh pattern. The pulp is white, does not change at the break. It grows with a lot of tree species - coniferous and deciduous, in the middle zone of the European part of the USSR - more often with birch, oak, pine, spruce, but has never been noted in the USSR with such a common species as larch. In the arctic and mountain tundra occasionally grows with dwarf birch. The species is Holarctic, however, in the cultures of the corresponding tree species, it is also known outside the Holarctic (for example, Australia, South America). It grows in abundance in places. In the USSR, white fungus lives mainly in the European part, in Western Siberia, in the Caucasus. It is very rare in Eastern Siberia and on Far East.[ ...]
The roots of the grasshoppers are thick and fleshy, retracting in many species. The cells of the root bark usually contain a mycorrhizal fungus belonging to phycomycetes. These mycorrhizal roots lack root hairs.[ ...]
The role of mycorrhiza is very great in tropical rainforests, where the absorption of nitrogen and other inorganic substances occurs with the participation of a mycorrhizal fungus that feeds on saprotrophs on fallen leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, etc. The main source of minerals here is not the soil itself, but soil fungi . Mineral substances enter the porcini directly from the hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi. In this way, a more polyoo use of mineral substances and their more complete cycle are ensured. Impossibly, it is explained that most of the root system of rainforest plants is located in the surface layer of the soil at a depth of about 0.3 m.[ ...]
It should also be noted that in artificially created forest plantations from a particular tree species, the accompanying them are especially characteristic species mycorrhizal fungi are sometimes found very far from the boundaries of their natural range. In addition to tree species, the type of forest, the type of soil, its moisture content, acidity, etc. [ ...]
The real mushroom is found in birch and pine-birch forests with linden undergrowth. large groups("flocks"), from July to September. Mandatory mycorrhizal mushroom with birch.[ ...]
Mutualism is a widespread form of mutually beneficial relationships between species. Lichens are a classic example of mutualism. Symbionts in lichen - fungus and algae - physiologically complement each other. The hyphae of the fungus, braiding the cells and threads of algae, form special suction processes, haustoria, through which the fungus receives substances assimilated by algae. Algae get minerals from water. Many grasses and trees normally exist only in cohabitation with soil fungi that settle on their roots. Mycorrhizal fungi promote the penetration of water, mineral and organic substances from the soil into the roots of plants, as well as the absorption of a number of substances. In turn, they receive from the roots of plants carbohydrates and other organic substances necessary for their existence.[ ...]
One of the measures against acidification of forest soils is their liming in the amount of 3 t/ha every 5 years. It may be promising to protect forests from acid rain with the help of some types of mycorrhizal fungi. The symbiotic community of fungal mycelium with the root of a higher plant, expressed in the formation of mycorrhiza, can protect trees from the harmful effects of acidic soil solutions and even significant concentrations of certain heavy metals, such as copper and zinc. Many mycorrhiza-forming fungi have an active ability to protect trees from the effects of drought, which are especially detrimental to trees growing in conditions of anthropogenic pollution.[ ...]
Russula graying (R. decolorans) has a hat at first spherical, spherical, then prostrate, flat-convex and depressed, yellow-brown, reddish-orange or yellowish-orange, more or less reddish, lilac or pinkish along the edge, unequally fading, with scattered red spots, 5-10 cm in diameter with a thin, slightly striated edge. The plates are adherent, white, then yellow. These mushrooms are found mainly in pine forests of the green moss type. Mandatory as mycorrhizal mushrooms with pine. The taste is sweet, then spicy.[ ...]
Most of the elements of mineral nutrition enter the organisms of the forest and the entire biota of the ecosystem exclusively through the roots of plants. The roots extend into the soil, branching into thinner and thinner endings, and thus cover a sufficiently large volume of soil to provide a large nutrient uptake surface. The surface area of the roots of the community was not measured, and it can be assumed that it exceeds the surface area of the leaves. In any case, nutrients mainly enter the community not through the surface of the roots themselves (and not through the root hairs for most plants), but through the surface of fungal hyphae, which is significantly predominant in area. The surface of the predominant part of the roots is mycorrhizal (that is, covered with fungal mycelium that is in symbiosis with the root), and the hyphae of these fungi extend from the roots into the soil; for most terrestrial plants, fungi are mediators in the absorption of nutrients.[ ...]
The function of ecosystems includes a complex hallmarks metabolism - transfer, transformation, use and accumulation of inorganic and organic substances. Some aspects of this metabolism can be studied using radioactive isotopes, such as radioactive phosphorus: their movements in the aquatic environment (aquarium, lake) are monitored. Radioactive phosphorus circulates very quickly between water and plankton, more slowly penetrates coastal plants and animals, and gradually accumulates in bottom sediments. When phosphate fertilizers are applied to a lake, there is a temporary increase in its productivity, after which the concentration of phosphates in the water returns to the level that it was before the application of fertilizer. Nutrient transfer brings together all parts of an ecosystem, and the amount of nutrients in water is determined not only by its supply, but also by the overall function of the ecosystem at a steady state. In the forest ecosystem, nutrients from the soil enter the plants through mycorrhizal fungi and roots and are distributed throughout different fabrics plants. Most of the nutrients go to the leaves and other short-lived tissues, which ensures that the nutrients return to the soil after a short time and thus complete the cycle. Nutrients also enter the soil and into the soil as a result of their washing off from the leaves of plants. Organic substances are also washed off the surface of the leaves into the soil, and some of them have an inhibitory effect on other plants. The chemical inhibition of some plants by others is only one of the manifestations of the allelochemical influence, the chemical effects of some species on others. The most widespread variant of such influences is the use chemical compounds organisms to defend against their enemies. Three broad groups of substances take part in the metabolism of communities: inorganic nutrients, food (for heterotrophs) and allelochemical compounds.[ ...]
modern ferns, geological history which dates back to the Carboniferous (Permo-Carboniferous genus Psaronius - Rzagopshe - and others). Perennial plants varying from small forms to very large ones. The stems are dorsiventral corpus or thick tuberous trunks. The stems are fleshy. In the stems, as in other vegetative organs, there are large lysigenic mucus ducts, which are one of the features of maratthioisids. In large forms, a dictyostele is formed very complex structure(the most complex in the genus Angiopteris - Angiopteris). Tracheids are scalariform. In the genus Angiopteris, a very weak development of secondary xylem is observed. The roots bear peculiar multicellular root hairs. The first roots to form usually contain a mycorrhizal phycomycete fungus in the bark. Young leaves are always spirally twisted. Very characteristic is the presence at the base of the leaves of two thick stipules, connected together by a special cross jumper.[ ...]
The ability of green plants to carry out photosynthesis is due to the presence of pigments in them. The maximum absorption of light is carried out by chlorophyll. Other pigments absorb the rest, converting it into different kinds energy. In an angiosperm flower, due to pigmentation, the solar spectrum with a certain wavelength is selectively captured. The idea of two plasmas in organic world predetermined the symbiotrophic beginning of plants. Symbiotic endophytes of the Fungi imperfect class isolated from all parts of plants synthesize pigments of all colors, hormones, enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, lipids and supply them to the plant instead of carbohydrates received. The hereditary transmission of endophytes guarantees the integrity of the system. Some plant species have two types of ecto-endophytic mycorrhizal fungi or fungi and bacteria, the combination of which provides flower color, plant growth and development (Geltser, 1990).
In order to visualize more clearly what the mycorrhiza of tree roots looks like, it is necessary to compare the appearance of root endings with mycorrhiza with the appearance of roots without it. The roots of the warty euonymus, for example, devoid of mycorrhiza, branch sparsely and are the same throughout, in contrast to the roots of rocks that form mycorrhiza, in which the sucking mycorrhizal endings differ from the growth, not mycorrhizal ones. Mycorrhizal sucking endings either swell club-shaped at the tip in oak, or form very characteristic "forks" and complex complexes of them, resembling corals, in pine, or have the shape of a brush in spruce. In all these cases, the surface of the sucking endings greatly increases under the action of the fungus. Having made a thin cut through the mycorrhizal ending of the root, one can be convinced that the anatomical picture is even more diverse, i.e., the sheath of fungal hyphae entwining the root ending can be different thickness and coloration, be smooth or fluffy, consisting of hyphae so tightly intertwined that it gives the impression of real tissue, or, conversely, be loose.
It happens that the cover does not consist of one layer, but of two, differing from each other in color or structure. The so-called Hartig network can also be expressed to varying degrees, i.e., hyphae that go along the intercellular spaces and form together really something like a network. In different cases, this network can extend to more or less layers of root parenchyma cells. The hyphae of the fungus partially penetrate into the cells of the cow parenchyma, which is especially pronounced in the case of aspen and birch mycorrhiza, and are partially digested there. But no matter how peculiar the picture of the internal structure of mycorrhizal roots, in all cases it is clear that the hyphae of the fungus do not enter the central cylinder of the root and the meristem at all, i.e., into that zone of the root ending where, due to increased cell division, the root grows. . All such mycorrhiza are called ectoendotrophic, since they have both a superficial sheath with hyphae extending from it, and hyphae passing inside the root tissue.
Not all tree species have mycorrhiza of the types described above. In maple, for example, mycorrhiza is different, that is, the fungus does not form an outer cover, but in the cells of the parenchyma one can see not separately running hyphae, but whole balls of hyphae, often filling the entire space of the cell. Such mycorrhiza is called endotrophic (from the Greek "endos" - inside, and "trophe" - nutrition) and is especially characteristic of orchids. The appearance of mycorrhizal endings (shape, branching, depth of penetration) is determined by the tree species, and the structure and surface of the cover depend on the type of fungus that forms mycorrhiza, and, as it turned out, not one, but two fungi can form mycorrhiza simultaneously.
What fungi form mycorrhiza and with what breed? It was not easy to resolve this issue. At various times it was proposed for this different methods, up to careful tracing of the course of fungal hyphae in the soil from the base of the fruiting body to the root end. by the most effective method turned out to be sowing under sterile conditions of a certain type of fungus in the soil on which a seedling of a certain tree species was grown, that is, when mycorrhiza was synthesized under experimental conditions. This method was proposed in 1936 by the Swedish scientist E. Melin, who used a simple chamber consisting of two flasks connected to each other. In one of them, a sterile pine seedling was grown and a fungus was introduced in the form of mycelium taken from a young fruiting body at the transition point of the cap to the stem, and in the other there was a liquid for the necessary soil moisture. Subsequently, scientists who continued to work on the synthesis of mycorrhiza made various improvements to the structure of such a device, which made it possible to conduct experiments under more controlled conditions and for a longer time.
When using the Melin method, by 1953, the relationship of tree species with 47 species of fungi from 12 genera was experimentally proven. To date, it is known that mycorrhiza with tree species can form more than 600 species of fungi from such genera as fly agaric, rowing, hygrophores, some lactic (for example, milk mushrooms), russula, etc., and it turned out that each can form mycorrhiza not with one, but with different tree species. In this regard, all records were broken by the marsupial fungus, which has sclerotia, granular coenococcus, which, under experimental conditions, formed mycorrhiza with 55 species of tree species. The greatest specialization is characterized by sublarch butterdish, which forms mycorrhiza with larch and with cedar pine.
Some genera of fungi are not able to form mycorrhiza - govorushki, kollybia, omfalia, etc.
And yet, despite such a wide specialization, the effect of different mycorrhiza-forming fungi on a higher plant is not the same. So, in the mycorrhiza of Scots pine, formed by the butter dish, the absorption of phosphorus from hard-to-reach compounds occurs better than when the fly agaric participates in the formation of mycorrhiza. There are other facts that confirm this. It is very important to take this into account in practice and when accepting the mycorrhization of tree species for their better development it is necessary to select such a mushroom for a particular breed, which would have the most beneficial effect on it.
It has now been established that mycorrhizal hymenomycetes do not form fruiting bodies under natural conditions without connection with tree roots, although their mycelium can exist saprotrophically. That is why until now it was impossible to grow milk mushrooms, mushrooms, porcini mushroom, boletus and other valuable types of edible mushrooms in the beds. However, in principle this is possible. Someday, even in the not too distant future, people will learn to give the mycelium all that it gets from cohabitation with the roots of trees, and make it bear fruit. In any case, such experiments are being conducted under laboratory conditions.
As for tree species, spruce, pine, larch, fir, and possibly most other conifers are considered to be highly mycotrophic, and oak, beech and hornbeam from deciduous species. Birch, elm, hazel, aspen, poplar, linden, willow, alder, mountain ash, bird cherry are weakly mycotrophic. These tree species have mycorrhiza in typical forest conditions, but in parks, gardens, and when growing as individual plants, they may not have it. In such fast-growing species as poplar and eucalyptus, the absence of mycorrhiza is often associated with their rapid consumption of carbohydrates formed during intensive growth, i.e., carbohydrates do not have time to accumulate in the roots, which is a necessary condition for the fungus to settle on them and form mycorrhiza.
What are the relationships between the components in mycorrhiza? One of the first hypotheses about the nature of mycorrhiza formation was proposed in 1900 by the German biologist E. Stahl. It was as follows: in the soil there is fierce competition between various organisms in the struggle for water and mineral salts. It is especially pronounced in the roots of higher plants and mycelium of fungi in humus soils, where there are usually a lot of fungi. Those plants that had a strong root system and good transpiration did not suffer much under such competition, while those that root system was relatively weak, and transpiration was reduced, i.e., plants that were not able to successfully absorb soil solutions got out of a difficult situation by forming mycorrhiza with a powerfully developed system of hyphae that penetrate the soil and increase the absorption capacity of the root. The most vulnerable point of this hypothesis is that there is no direct relationship between the absorption of water and the absorption of mineral salts. Thus, rapidly absorbing and rapidly evaporating water plants are not the most armed in the competition for mineral salts.
Other hypotheses were based on the ability of fungi to act with their enzymes on the lignin-protein complexes of the soil, destroy them and make them available to higher plants. There were also suggestions, which were confirmed later, that the fungus and the plant can exchange growth substances, vitamins. Fungi, as heterotrophic organisms that need ready-made organic matter, receive primarily carbohydrates from a higher plant. This was confirmed not only by experiments, but also by direct observations. For example, if trees grow in heavily shaded places in the forest, the degree of mycorrhiza formation is greatly reduced, since carbohydrates do not have time to accumulate in the roots in the proper amount. The same applies to fast-growing tree species. Consequently, in sparse forest plantations, mycorrhiza forms better, faster and more abundantly, and therefore the process of mycorrhiza formation can improve during thinning.
Many would like to breed mushrooms in their area, next to the house. However, doing so is far from easy. On the one hand, mushrooms themselves appear where they are not needed, for example, dung beetles or raincoats suddenly grow on lawns and flower beds, and tinder fungi causing rot on tree trunks. On the other hand, in some years the weather is mushroomy - warm and humid, but favorite mushrooms (porcini, boletus, boletus) are still missing.
The mysterious world of mushrooms
In order to understand mysterious world fungi, you need at least in general terms to get acquainted with their biological and ecological features.
Mushrooms are spore organisms, the unit of their reproduction and settlement is the smallest cells - spores. Once in favorable conditions, they germinate, forming hyphae - the thinnest filamentous structures. In different types of fungi, a certain substrate is required for the development of hyphae: soil, forest litter, wood, etc. In the substrate, hyphae grow rapidly and, intertwining with each other, form mycelium - the basis of the fungal organism. Under certain conditions, on the surface of the substrate permeated with mycelium, fruiting bodies are formed, which serve to form and disperse spores.
The most valuable species of edible mushrooms are very diverse in terms of nutrition and in relation to the substrate on which they grow. On this basis, all fungi of interest to us can be divided into three large groups:
The environment for the development of the mycelium of fungi belonging to this group is the soil, more precisely, its upper humus horizon, which consists of the remains of dead plants decomposed to a uniform organic mass, excrement of herbivores or humus. Under such conditions, saprophytic fungi appear on their own, settling in a natural way.
This category includes the most popular in the world of mushroom culture double-spored champignon ( Agaricus bisporus), as well as other representatives of the genus Champignon ( Agaricus): w. ordinary (A. campester), w. field ( A. arvensis), w. forest ( A. silvaticus). There are a number of mushrooms of this group - smoky talker ( Clitocybe nebularis); some species of the umbrella family ( Macrolepiota): h. motley ( M. procera), h. shaggy (M. rhacodes); white dung beetle ( Coprinus comatus) and etc.
Mushrooms - destroyers of wood
In Russia, the cultivation of a wood-destroying fungus is widely practiced - flammulina velvety-legged, or winter honey agaric ( Flammulina velutipes). Winter mushroom grows naturally on the trunks of living but weakened or damaged hardwood trees, especially willows and poplars. It tolerates frost well, therefore it forms fruiting bodies mainly in the autumn-winter period or in early spring. This mushroom is artificially grown only indoors, as its cultivation in the open field poses a threat to gardens, parks and forests.
In the last 30–40 years, oyster mushroom has gained great popularity ( Pleurotus ostreatus). For its cultivation, cheap substrates containing cellulose are used: straw, corn cobs, sunflower husks, sawdust, bran and other similar materials.
The fruiting body of the fungus commonly called simply "mushroom") - the reproductive part of the fungus, which is formed from intertwined hyphae of the mycelium and serves to form spores.
Mycorrhizae are non-lignified structures from the root of a plant and fungal tissue.
White mushroom 
Chanterelles 
Ginger
mycorrhizal fungi
Significantly worse fit artificial cultivation fungi of the third group are mycorrhiza-forming fungi associated with the roots of higher plants according to nutritional conditions. It is this group that includes most of the most valuable edible mushrooms in terms of nutritional and taste properties.
As already mentioned, their development requires the roots of woody plants - forest-forming plants. Mycorrhizal symbiosis allows trees to expand their ecological range and grow in less than optimal conditions.
A good example is different types of larches, from an early age mycorrhiza with larch butterdish is formed on their root ends ( Suillus grevillei), and after 10–15 years yellow-orange fruiting bodies appear under the trees. Practice shows that if you plant even one larch tree on the site, mushrooms of this species will definitely grow under it after a while.
A similar picture is observed with Scotch pine. This tree species enters into mycorrhizal symbiosis with many species of fungi, however, the obligate (obligatory) mycorrhizal-formers are the late, yellow, or true oiler ( S. lutens), and a granular oiler ( Suillus granulatus). Symbiosis with these species of fungi allows the pine to grow on poor sandy soils where other tree species cannot take root. Having created decorative biogroups from Scots pine on your site, it is quite possible to count on the appearance of these types of oil.
The situation is much more complicated with whites, boletus, boletus, mushrooms, chanterelles and even russula. The reason is that they are not obligatory mycorrhiza-formers and enter into symbiosis with trees only in conditions when the latter need their help. Pay attention to where in nature are the most mushroom places? At the edge of the forest, clearing, in forest plantations. Under favorable conditions for tree species, mycorrhizal symbiosis does not form.
Nevertheless, in practice there are cases of successful cultivation of these types of mushrooms. Most often this happens as a result of transplanting large trees with a clod of earth. There have even been cases of mass appearance of fruiting bodies of russula after the creation of avenue plantings of drooping birch along the streets in Moscow. Therefore, decorating your site with trees, from the very beginning you need to take care of creating favorable conditions for the development of mycorrhizal fungi. First, you need to know with which tree species a particular type of fungus can form mycorrhiza. Second, to create as close as possible to optimal conditions environment for the development of mycorrhiza and the appearance of fruiting bodies.
In addition to the presence of tree roots, a certain temperature is necessary for the development of fungi. Few people know that at temperatures above +28 ° C, the mycelium stops growing, and at +32 ° C, it dies. Therefore, the surface of the soil should be shaded by the crowns of trees and shrubs. For the development of mushrooms, it is necessary and quite high humidity soil and air. This can be achieved by regular watering. Moreover, it is impossible to fill the soil with water until it is oversaturated, otherwise the mycelium will get wet. The development of mycorrhizal fungi can be prevented by the creation of a lawn under the trees or other violations of the upper soil horizons. Fallen leaves and needles should not be raked under the trees.
It is possible to stimulate the appearance of certain types of mycorrhizal fungi by sowing their spores, for which the caps of the fruiting bodies that have ripened and are already beginning to decompose must be crushed into a warm, best rain water, hold for several hours, mix thoroughly and pour the soil under the trees with this solution.
Honey mushrooms 
Aspen mushrooms 
Champignon
mushrooms and trees
Let us now consider the most interesting types of edible mushrooms from the point of view of their association with certain tree species.
White mushroom (Boletus edulis)Cep birch mushroom ( B. edulis f. betulicola) forms mycorrhiza with silver birch, b. oak ( B. edulis f. guercicola) - with pedunculate oak, b. pine ( B. edulis f. pinocola) - with Scotch pine, b. spruce ( B. edulis f. edulis) - with common spruce.
boletus, or obabok ordinary ( Leccinum scabrum).This name is often used not only for the common boletus, but also for all species of the genus Leccinum with a brown hat: black, marsh, pinking boletus. All of them form mycorrhiza with our birch species. Common and black boletus - more often with drooping birch, and marsh and pinking - with fluffy birch.
Boletus. Under this name, species of the genus Leccinum with an orange cap are combined, which differ from each other not only in external features (for example, in the color of the scales on the leg), but also in mycorrhizal partners. The most typical species is the red boletus ( L. aurantiacum) with an intensely colored orange cap and white stem that forms mycorrhiza with aspen and other poplar species. Boletus, or boletus of various skins ( L. versipele), with black scales on the stem, forms mycorrhiza with birch in damp places. Boletus, or about. oak (L. guercinum), characterized by red-brown scales on the stem, forms mycorrhiza with English oak.
Chanterelle ordinary, or real ( Cantharellus Cabarus), able to form mycorrhiza with various tree species. Most often with pine and spruce, less often with deciduous, in particular with oak.
Russula (Russula). About 30 species of russula grow in our forests. Some of them, in particular with. green ( R. aeruginea) and s. pink ( R. rosea), form mycorrhiza with birch, others are able to enter into symbiosis with the roots of different tree species (p. blue-yellow - R. cyanoxantha, from. food - R. vesca, from. brittle - R. fragilis).
mushrooms (Lactarius). Ginger is real, or pine ( L. deliciosus), is a mycorrhizal former with Scotch pine. spruce saffron ( L. Sanguifluus) - with common spruce.
Black breast, or blackberry(Lactarius necator), forms mycorrhiza with birch and spruce.
They occupy a special place in the biology of higher or vascular plants. Mycorrhiza (translated from Greek - mushroom root) occurs as a result of the symbiotic cohabitation of the fungus with the root of a higher plant. Mycorrhiza is found among forest trees, herbaceous vegetation and agricultural plants (wheat, etc.). It has been found in plants in Paleozoic, Devonian, and Carboniferous deposits.
The importance of mycorrhiza for living plants was explained for the first time in Russia in the first half. XIX century Russian scientist F. M. Kamensky, who studied the symbiotic relationship of the fungus with the herbaceous plant podelnik. Thanks to the symbiosis of fungi with roots, the nutrition of plants, called mycotrophic due to their ability to use fungi, improves. According to the relationship between the roots of a higher plant and the mycelium of the fungus, three main types of mycorrhiza are distinguished: endotrophic (internal), ectotrophic (external), transitional (ectoendotrophic).
Most herbaceous plants have endotrophic mycorrhiza. The mycelium of the fungus is located mainly in the upper part of the root; the fungus does not penetrate into the growth cone of the root. The mycelium of the fungus can penetrate into the cells of the root hairs, forming there tangles of hyphae, tree-like branches or bubble-like swellings. The root cells of plants in which the fungus has settled remain alive and gradually digest the mycelium that has penetrated into them, thus obtaining nitrogen, which is not always present in the soil in an accessible form. Herbaceous plants, especially orchids, enter into a mycorrhizal relationship with microscopic fungi that do not form fruiting bodies. The seeds of most orchids are not able to germinate without the participation of the fungus, only this explains the failures when trying to artificially breed orchids. blooming orchids mined in tropical countries, sometimes at great risk to life, and brought to Europe, where they were and are still very expensive. Therefore, the desire of plant growers to grow orchids from seeds to obtain hybrid forms is understandable. When studying the nondescript nesting of the common - a mycorrhizal orchid plant that does not have chlorophyll - it was noticed that the hyphae of the fungus affect the germination of the seeds of this plant. Nesting depends on the fungus for life. Some orchids take 10 or more years to form rhizomes before they bloom. The green leaf orchid does not have such a vital dependence on mycorrhiza. As a result of the interaction of a plant with a fungus, it produces biologically active substances that enhance plant growth.
The useful role of mycorrhiza-forming fungi lies mainly in the supply of woody plants with mineral nutrition elements and vitamins. However, in herbaceous plants, other fungi, the so-called imperfect ones, more often participate in the formation of mycorrhiza. Ectotrophic mycorrhiza is most common in woody and very rare in herbaceous plants. In this case, an outer sheath of fungal hyphae develops on the roots of woody plants. There are no root hairs at the root, their role is played by fungal hyphae.
In woody plants, there is also a transitional type of mycorrhiza - ectoendotrophy. Hyphae of the fungus abundantly cover the root from the outside and give branches that penetrate into the root. The outer hyphae of the fungus draw water, mineral salts, as well as soluble nitrogen and other organic substances from the soil. These substances coming from the soil are partly used by the plant, and part of them go to the growth of mycelium and the formation of the fruiting bodies of the fungus. There are no mycorrhizal fungi in the vital growing parts of the root (cylinder): if they get there, they are immediately digested by the plant cells. Mycorrhiza symbionts cannot exist without each other. If mycorrhizal fungi do not meet the roots of trees, then they do not form fruiting bodies. Therefore, it is very difficult to create an opportunity for growing under artificial conditions, for example, white fungus.
In the numerous species kingdom of fungi, mycorrhizal fungi are only a small part of it. For example, among 900 genera of basidiomycetes, only representatives of 91 genera are capable of producing mycorrhizal formations. Currently, there are about 200 thousand higher plants that come into contact with mycorrhizal fungi. The most favorable conditions for the development of mycorrhiza in soils depleted in soluble nitrogen and phosphorus. In soils where there is enough phosphorus and nitrogen, mycorrhiza is almost never found.
Pain fungi form mycorrhiza with many higher plants, sometimes systematically far from each other, for example, with conifers and deciduous plants. Sometimes, in different habitats, mycorrhizal-forming species have mycotrophic relationships with various tree species, for example, the common oiler in Leningrad region- with species of pines, and on Sakhalin - with other trees. The mycorrhizal mushroom red fly agaric is associated with 26 species of trees - fir, larch, spruce, pine, birch, poplar, oak, etc.
Practically all soils of the Soviet Union are suitable for mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhiza formation is sometimes observed in places far from the forest, and where the forest has not grown for a long time. The process of mycorrhiza formation in our northern podzolic soils is particularly intensive.
Mycorrhizal fungi are of great importance when planting windbreaks. Artificial forest plantations create favorable conditions for the conservation of moisture in the steppe part of the country, and this affects the increase in crop yields. Elucidation of the role of mycorrhiza in the survival and development of tree species in various climatic conditions our country is still one of the most important tasks of mycology. For example, it is known that in the southern regions the formation of mycorrhiza is weaker than in the northern regions, and artificial infection of forest plantations is recommended there. The protection of mycorrhizal fungi is essential for successful forest management. There are many such mushrooms in the Leningrad region.
One more natural phenomenon that affects the development of mycorrhiza in the soil should be noted. At present, the growth of trees of many species has slowed down compared to the 1930s and 1950s due to the so-called acid rain, which contains the products of emissions into the atmosphere from industrial enterprises. Acid compounds kill mycorrhizal fungi on the roots of trees, and after the death of the fungus, the trees themselves die. The negative effect of acid rain has been noted here, in the USA, Japan and other countries.
Many types of mycorrhizal fungi are edible. They are not only tasty and fragrant, but also nutritious. Mushrooms do not contain vegetable starch, but contain glycogen and sugars that give them a sweetish taste. Especially a lot of sugars in white, boletus, boletus. There are more sugars in the legs of mushrooms than in hats. The amount of protein compounds in mushrooms is greater than in meat, eggs, peas, rye. They are concentrated mainly in the mushroom cap. Fat contains from 1 to 6%. Almost all edible mushrooms, as already noted, contain vitamins A, B, B 1 B 2, C, D and PP. Vitamin PP in them is as much as it is in yeast, liver, and vitamin D is no less than in butter.
In terms of nutritional value and taste, mushrooms are conventionally divided into four categories. The first category includes, for example, porcini, saffron milk mushrooms - valuable and tasty mushrooms; to the second - aspen mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, milk mushrooms - inferior in quality to mushrooms of the first category; to the third - blue russula, autumn mushroom, flywheel; the fourth category includes mushrooms that are collected only by amateurs - these are oyster mushrooms (common, autumn), goat, green russula, marsh butterdish. All mushrooms of these categories are available in our region.
Leningrad mycologist B.P. Vasilkov believes that in the regions of the North-West, the Volga region, the Urals and the Center, the annual reserves of food mushrooms are more than 150 thousand tons. More than 200 species of edible mushrooms are found in the forests of Russia. Science cannot yet predict exactly where and when the mushroom harvest will be. The harvest of mushrooms depends on the weather of the current season, habitat and type of mushroom. According to available information, the yield of white fungus under favorable growing conditions reaches about 500 kg, and butterdish - even 1 thousand kg per 1 ha. In lean years, you can get only a few kilograms per 1 ha or even
nothing. In some years, mushrooms destroy pests from the insect world (fly larvae, mosquitoes, etc.).
The range of collected edible mushrooms in each region is different. In the UK and the US, wild mushrooms are not used at all. The peoples of the Far North also almost do not eat mushrooms. The peoples of Central Asia, the Caucasus, as well as the Bashkirs and Tatars are indifferent to mushrooms. Russians, on the other hand, are big fans of mushrooms. In good years, they collect valuable mushrooms, and in lean years - all edible species.
The most interesting group of boletaceae, which includes all types of porcini mushrooms and inedible ones - satanic mushroom and gall. This also includes birch trees (babki), aspen trees, butterflies and goats. The size of the fruiting bodies of these mushrooms, depending on the place of growth, can be different - from 1-2 cm in diameter (birch in the Arctic) to half a meter in central Russia, and in weight - from a few grams to 4 kg. Most often there are medium sizes - up to 20 cm in diameter. The legs of fruiting bodies in the same species may differ depending on the place of growth (as well as the color of the cap). In low damp places, among mosses, herbaceous plants, the legs are stretched out. and in dry places they are usually short and thickened. Cohabiting with one tree species or many tree species, sometimes systematically distant from each other, mycorrhizal fungi in some cases can apparently develop as saprotrophs (isolated from tree roots). For example, a white mushroom was found on top of a huge boulder in a pine forest.
In the Leningrad region, boletus fungi are less diverse than in central Russia, and only 3-4 species are known in the tundra of the Arctic. The mass formation of fruiting bodies in boletes is most often observed in August - September. Many types of bolet fungi are mycorrhiza-forming, therefore it is not possible to artificially obtain fruiting bodies from them, with the exception of two types of mossiness mushrooms. Among the boletus mushrooms in the Leningrad region, there are very few inedible ones, about 3-4 species are known. The satanic mushroom (boletus satanas) is especially often mentioned as poisonous in literature, but, according to French and Czechoslovak literature, it is quite edible, and even tasty (boiled and fried), mushroom.
In the Leningrad region, many people are afraid of bright porcini mushrooms that turn blue at a break. However, it is quite possible to use them after preliminary boiling.
Some types of boletus fungi contain antibiotic substances in their fruiting bodies (spruce white fungus). These substances act negatively on Escherichia coli and tuberculosis microbes. Substances isolated from white fungus (Boletus edulis) and satanic fungus suppressed malignant tumors in mice. In former times, in Russia, mushrooms were called lips, and only in the 15th-16th centuries did they begin to call all edible boletus mushrooms. At present, mushrooms have many popular names (boletus, obabok, butterdish, flywheel, etc.), but some types of such names do not have, and in popular literature they are designated by the Latin name.
There are 750 known species of the genus Boletus. The fruit body of these mushrooms is usually large, fleshy. The stem is tuberous, thickened, especially in young ones, with a characteristic embossed mesh pattern. White fungus, the most nutritionally valuable mushroom in the Leningrad region, has several forms that differ in the color of the fruiting body and mycorrhizal confinement. The hat is whitish, yellow, brownish, yellow-brown, red-brown or even almost black. The spongy layer in young specimens is pure white, later yellowish and yellowish-olive. On the leg there is a light mesh pattern. The pulp is white on a break, does not change. Grows under many tree species in the Leningrad region: under oak, birch, pine, spruce, but never found under larch. It is called porcini mushroom because its flesh does not darken during cooking and harvesting.
Occurs in the Leningrad region olive-brown oak tree (Boletus luridus). Its hat is olive-brown, the spongy layer is orange-red and turns sharply blue from pressure. Mesh pattern on leg. It grows mainly with oak. There is practically no inedible satanic mushroom similar to this oak tree in the Leningrad Region. Very rarely found in our country and speckled oak. It resembles olive-brown, but does not have a mesh pattern on the stem, instead of it there are only small carmine-red scales.
The boletus mushroom grows in deciduous and mixed forests. It occurs very often from June - July to September. Hat up to 10 cm in diameter, first convex, later cushion-shaped, white, yellow, gray, brown, brown, sometimes almost black. The pulp is white, not changing on the cut. Leg up to 20 cm long, 2-3 cm thick, covered with dark scales. Edible, second category. More than others in the Leningrad region, the common boletus is known. This species always settles next to birch of various species in forests and swamps. The pinking boletus differs from the ordinary boletus in the marble color of the hat. Its brown areas are interspersed with lighter or even white ones. At the break, the flesh turns pink. The fruiting bodies of this fungus are formed only in autumn. The marsh boletus grows in damp birch forests in the first half of September, the hat is off-white, with weak watery flesh. The fungus belongs to the third category. The inedible gall mushroom is very similar to the boletus, which differs from it in a dirty pink tubular layer, a mesh pattern on the stem and bitter flesh.
Often in the Leningrad region there is a Polish mushroom (xerocomus badius). The leg can be both tuberous and cylindrical; the hat is chestnut-brown, dry in dry weather, and sticky in wet weather; the tubular layer is whitish at first (as a result of which it is often mistaken for a white fungus), then pale greenish-yellowish; the flesh is whitish, turns blue at the break. It grows in coniferous, rarely in deciduous forests. This is an edible mushroom, belongs to the second category.
Oiler (suillus) comes across in coniferous forests, and it is in vain to look for it in an aspen or birch forest. Fruit bodies are small or medium, the cap is usually slimy, sticky, the stem is solid. More often than other species, yellow butterdish (Suillus luteus) is found in the Leningrad region. It has a brown or yellow sticky cap, a leg with a sticky ring on the outside. Grows in sparse coniferous forests, on the edges, roadsides, etc. Yellowish oiler's favorite places (Suillus flavidus) are swamps and damp forest areas. It should not be confused with an inedible species - a pepper mushroom (Suillus pipiratus), its flesh is loose, sulfur-yellow, slightly reddening, with a sharp-burning peppery taste; grows singly in coniferous and deciduous forests. The cap is small, up to 8 cm in diameter, round-convex, fleshy, yellow-brown, copper-red, in wet weather sticky, shiny when dry.
In the cultivated larch plantations in the Leningrad region, there is a marsh boletin (raluster boletin), it is very similar to the butter dish, but differs from it in a dry, non-sticky hat and denser pulp.
Known in pas and pigs. These are saprotrophs that develop on soil or wood. On the stumps of a pine tree or near them grows a fat pig with a rusty-brown hat, dryish light flesh. From below, the caps of the plate are descending, yellow, connecting at the base. The mushroom is of low quality (fourth category).
Not all edible and poisonous mushrooms are mycorrhizal. Such, for example, is the autumn honey agaric (armillariella melea). Many mushrooms appear in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. Autumn honey agaric is an edible mushroom; in terms of the number of fruiting bodies, it surpasses all edible hat mushrooms. Like other edible cap mushrooms, it contains many valuable substances for the human body, such as zinc and copper. The cap of this fungus with a small tubercle is pale brown, brownish, covered with numerous brown scales. On the. stalk - white remaining ring. The flesh is whitish, with a pleasant smell and a sour-astringent taste. A common species is the summer honey agaric (marasmius ariadis), it is also found in the Leningrad region. Grows singly or in large groups in forest clearings, forest edges, pastures, in ravines and ditches, among grass. Often forms "witch circles". The radial growth of the mycelium dries up the soil in the center of the circle, and therefore on both sides of the ring of fruiting bodies there are circles of more luxuriantly developed and succulent vegetation, and in the center the grass is dried up. The cap of this mushroom is 2-3 cm in diameter, prostrate, with a blunt tubercle, ocher-brown. The plates are rare, fawn. The leg is thin, fawn. The flesh is pale yellow.
Very similar to edible mushroom poisonous mushroom false foam is sulfur-yellow. This dangerous mushroom can grow on the same stumps as edible mushrooms. The cap of the false foam is first convex, then semi-spread, often with a tubercle in the center, yellowish, darker in the middle with a reddish or orange tint. The flesh is light yellow. The taste of the mushroom is bitter. It grows on stumps and occasionally on trees in large groups, often with legs fused together. It appears at the same time, from June to September, as edible mushrooms, sometimes on the same stumps. Therefore, one must be especially careful and carefully examine all the mushrooms.
There are also various types of russula (russula), camelina (lactarius), bittersweet in our forests. These fungi are mycorrhiza forming. Most of them are edible (third and fourth categories). In wet years, russula are especially numerous in the Leningrad region. They belong to the russula family, which also includes lactifers that secrete milky juice of various colors. For example, in camelina this juice is orange-yellow, in black mushrooms and bitters it is white. Russula do not have milky juice. These mushrooms have colored fruiting bodies. Some of them are poisonous.
Russula make up 45% of the mass of all mushrooms found in our forests. The best mushrooms are those that have less red color, but more green, blue and yellow. Russula blue has white flesh, odorless. The stem is solid at first, later hollow. Russula has yellow flesh with a sweet smell. Russula false has a white pulp, spongy, very brittle, with a burning taste. The marsh russula has a red hat, brownish in the middle. Prefers damp pine forests, swamp edges, forms mycorrhiza with soybean. Of the milkers, we have camelina (lactarius diliciosis), its cap is rounded-convex, has concentric zones. The flesh is orange, then turning green. The milky juice is orange-yellow, sweet, turning green in the air. Ginger is an edible mushroom of the first category. In birch and mixed forests, a black mushroom (lactarius necator) grows. It has a brittle, whitish flesh that darkens when broken.
The most famous edible mushroom is the chanterelle. Chanterelle belongs to agaric mushrooms; There are about 10 species in the country. Chanterelles contain vitamin B [(not less than yeast) and PP; in addition, they have trace elements - zinc and copper. In the Leningrad region, the yellow chanterelle (cantarellus cybarius) and the gray chanterelle are known.
The amanitaceae family consists of both deadly poisonous (pale toadstool, stinky fly agaric) and edible mushrooms, among them the pink fly agaric and various varieties of floats.
About 30 representatives of the genus Amanita are found on the territory of the country. All fungi of this genus form mycorrhiza with various tree species. Pale grebe (Amanita phalloides) has a hat different shades green color. The edge of the cap is smooth, its shape is bell-shaped, then prostrate, 5-10 cm in diameter. The stem is white, expanded at the base in the form of a tuber, the ring is slightly striped on the outside, white, slightly colored inside. The grebe-like fly agaric, which looks like a pale grebe, almost always has traces of a common veil in the form of white flakes on its hat. Old, dried mushrooms of pale toadstool have an unpleasant sweetish smell. The habitats of the pale grebe are wet areas under oak, birch, maple trees, that is, in deciduous forests. In the Leningrad region, the pale grebe is found in groups and singly. This mushroom appears in mass usually in mid-August and grows until October. Pale grebe is the most poisonous mushroom. Poisoning manifests itself after 10-12, and sometimes 30 hours after eating it, when it is almost impossible to save a person. The deadly toxin of this fungus is phalloidin.
The smelly fly agaric, or white grebe (amanita viroza), is widely distributed in the Leningrad region. This is a large mushroom with a white, slightly yellowish hat towards the top. Hat without scales, bell-shaped, up to 12 cm in diameter. The leg is rather large, white, with a ring under the cap itself; because of the scales, it feels rough. The smell is unpleasant. This species grows in coniferous and mixed forests, easily tolerates moisture and arid conditions, as a result of which it is more common in our country than the pale grebe. The pulp of the cap in large numbers contains the toxins amanite and virozine, the leg contains fewer of these deadly toxins.
In the Leningrad region, the red fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is widespread. The cap of the mushroom is red or orange-red, at first sticky, then shiny. On the hat are the remains of a white veil in the form of white flakes. The leg is white, the ring is smooth, white, sometimes slightly yellowish. The base of the leg is swollen, covered with fragments of a white sheath in the form of concentric rings. From the appearance of the fruiting body to its drying, about 15 days pass. The red fly agaric contains alkaloids (muscarine, icholine) and other toxic substances that are highly stimulating nervous system. They determine the hallucinogenic properties of the red fly agaric. A person who has eaten a piece of red fly agaric comes into a state of ecstasy, hallucinates.
So, all edible mushrooms are a high-calorie protein product that can compete with meat and dairy products. However, the shell of fungal cells contains the carbohydrate polymer chitin, which is difficult to digest in the human stomach. In addition, the chitinous membrane of fungal cells impedes the influx of enzymes. Therefore, the more crushed mushrooms, the more useful substances are extracted from them.
Is it possible to artificially grow mushrooms on personal plot? Mycologist F.V. Fedorov tells about successful attempts to grow the most nutritious mushrooms - ceps. Here is what he recommends: “On a site shaded by trees, they dig a pit, 30 cm deep and 2 m wide. It is filled with a nutrient mixture of a special composition. The mixture is prepared a month before laying. It consists of fallen oak leaves collected in spring, rotten oak wood(5% by weight of leaves) and pure horse manure without bedding (5% by weight of leaves). The leaves are stacked in a pile in layers of 20 cm, each layer is sprinkled with wood dust and horse manure and watered with a 1% solution of ammonium nitrate. After 7-10 days, when the mixture warms up to 35-40 °, it is shoveled until a homogeneous mass is obtained. The prepared nutrient mixture is placed in the pit in layers of 10 - 12 cm, pouring each layer with an eight-centimeter layer of garden soil. The total thickness of the poured soil is adjusted to 50 cm. In the middle, the bed is made slightly higher so that water does not linger on it. Landing is carried out with pieces of mycelium taken from the forest. Landing pits are placed in a checkerboard pattern, at a distance of 30 cm from each other. The mushroom picker is harvested in an oak forest, in places where porcini mushrooms (oak form) grow. Around the found mushroom, layers of soil 20-30 cm in size, 10-15 cm thick are cut out with a shovel. These layers are cut into 5-10 parts and planted to such a depth that there is a layer of earth 5-7 cm thick above the piece of wood. lightly moisturize, cover with leaves and shields to maintain constant moisture "Mushrooms appear next year."