Agaricaceae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family of gilled fungi, commonly referred to as mushrooms, characterized by their spore-producing structures called basidia
2. A group of fungal organisms belonging to the order Agaricales, notable for their cap-and-stem morphology and ecological importance
3. An extensive family of basidiomycete fungi often found in diverse habitats, recognized for their importance in various ecosystems and culinary uses

Etymology: Agaricaceae is a Latinized scientific name built on the genus "Agaricus," and the family was named after it rather than the other way round. The genus name comes from Latin "agaricum," a term for a fungus growing on larch trees, which the Roman writer Dioscorides and others used for a medicinal fungus; the name ultimately traces to Agaric, a place-name in Sarmatia (or possibly the Agaria region). Linnaeus formalized "Agaricus" as a genus in 1753, and the family name appears in its modern form as a botanical ending, "-aceae," which marks plant and fungus families alike. The family itself is large and was defined by mycologists over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as they sorted gilled mushrooms into related groups. Its members include the common field mushroom, "Agaricus campestris" and "Agaricus bisporus," the cultivated button and portobello mushroom, along with many other gilled fungi found in grasslands, woods, and decaying matter. Because the family is so broad, its boundaries have been revised repeatedly as DNA evidence has reshaped fungal classification.

Synonyms: mushroom family