The mushroom is the fruiting body of the macrofungi. Approximately 14,000 described species of fungi produce fruiting bodies that are large enough to be considered mushrooms using our definition, which states that “the mushroom is a macrofungus with a distinctive fruiting body that can be either epigeous (aboveground) or hypogeous (underground) and large enough to be seen with the naked eye and to be picked by hand.” According to this definition, in contrast to other definitions, mushrooms can be Ascomycetes, grow underground, have a nonfleshy texture, and need not be edible. In nature, the role of the mushroom is to produce reproductive spores, to function in.
