Matchmaker:
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest
Glossary - S
This is a list of terms used in mushroom descriptions.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
S
| TERM | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Saccardo's umber | close to date brown, dark yellow brown |
| saccate | of a volva, shaped like a sac, cup or sheath |
| salmon-buff | a dingy pink |
| sanguineous | blood-red |
| saprobe | saphrophytic organism |
| saprophytic | living on decaying organic matter |
| sarcodimitic | consisting of generative hyphae and thick-walled, long, inflating fusiform elements, as in Gerronema |
| Sayal brown | close to cinnamon in color, dull to dark cinnamon; between a moderate orange and a moderate yellowish-brown |
| scaber | short projecting scale or tufted hairs |
| scabrous | roughened by short projecting rigid scales |
| scale | piece of tissue on surface that is not especially elongated, differentiated from surface by color or by projecting from it |
| scarlet | a brilliant red color slightly tinged with orange |
| sclerotium | a knot or firm frequently rounded mass of hyphae, usually underground, sometimes giving rise to mycelium or a fruiting body |
| scrobicula (plural scrobiculae) | a large conspicuous shallowly sunken spot, pit, hollow, or depression |
| scrobiculate | having scrobiculae, pitted with conspicuous wet-appearing slightly depressed areas |
| scum-like | of cap, having an area of superficial dark-colored fibrils |
| scurfy | surface covered with branlike particles resembling scales, same as furfuraceous |
| seceding | refers to gills that have separated in their attachment to the stem and have the appearance of being free, often leaving longitudinal lines on the stem where the gills were once connected |
| secondary spores | not borne on basidia, conidia, chlamydospores etc., formed directly on the mycelium or on hyphae of the fruit body |
| secotioid | suggesting an undeveloped or aborted gilled mushroom, resembling Secotium |
| senescent | becoming old |
| sensu | in the sense of |
| sensu lato | in a wide sense |
| sensu stricto | in a narrow sense |
| separable | said of stem or gill easily removed from cap |
| separate | of gill attachment, same as secede |
| sepia | a moderate brown; a brownish gray to a dark olive-brown |
| septate | partitioned with cross-walls |
| septum (plural septa) | cross-wall in hyphae |
| sequestrate | describes fruiting bodies that have evolved from those that forcibly discharge spores to a closed or even underground form in which spores are retained until it decays or is eaten by an animal, the word referring to spores which have been sequestered (hidden). Lactarius is thought to give rise to Arcangeliella (mostly above ground, but gills not exposed or vertically oriented and do not discharge spores forcibly) and Zelleromyces (underground, no true stem). Russula is thought to give rise to Macowanites (mostly above ground), Gymnomyces (underground, no stem), Elasmomyces (no sphaerocysts in hymenial tissue), and Martiella (no sphaerocysts in hymenial tissue, underground without stem). Cortinarius is thought to give rise to Thaxterogaster (above ground) and Hymenogaster (underground, no stem). Agaricus is thought to give rise to Endoptychum and Longula. Chroogomphus is thought to give rise to Brauniellula (often buried or half buried). Pholiota is thought to be related to Nivatogastrium (grows on wood). Other postulated sequestrates are given in brackets: Amanita (Torrendia), Bolbitiaceae (Gastrocybe), Boletus (Gastroboletus), Coprinus (Podaxis), Entoloma (Richonia), Gomphidius (Gomphogaster), Lepiotaceae (Notholepiota), Paxillaceae (Austrogaster, Gymnopaxillus), Strobilomycetaceae (Gautieria), Suillus (Rhizopogon, Alpova, Truncocolumella, Gastrosuillus). |
| sericeous | silky, like silk |
| serrate | saw-toothed to almost ragged |
| serrulate | finely serrate |
| sessile | lacking a stem |
| seta (plural setae) | pointed, elongated, thick-walled sterile cells |
| setula (plural setulae) | a fine bristle; a thick walled, pigmented, terminal element of a tramal cystidium |
| shaggy | rough as with long hair or wool |
| sheathlike | of a ring, clinging to the stem and opening upwards |
| short decurrent | refers to decurrent gills that do not proceed down stem far: for instance, as much as the width of the gills |
| siderophilous | of basidia, with granules that darken when heated in acetocarmine |
| sienna | raw sienna is brownish yellow-orange or bright yellow brown; burnt sienna is a watery strong red-brown or dark orange brown |
| sinuate | of gill attachment, refers to gills with a lower edge that curves up close to the stem then curves back to reach the stem more or less horizontally; of cap margin means wavy or undulating |
| sinuous | crooked or curved |
| skeletal hypha | thick-walled, little branched non-septate hypha |
| skirtlike | of a ring (annulus), hanging down like a skirt |
| slimy | having a thick layer of slime, more than viscid or glutinous |
| smooth | of a surface, without projections, often equivalent to bald or glabrous; but may be described as bumpy and bald, or finely powdery and smooth; of cap margin may mean not wavy or lobed, or may mean not grooved; of spores, not spiny rough, or ridged |
| snuff-brown | same as tobacco-brown, a dark sepia, a dull yellowish brown, a dull cinnamon brown |
| solid | not hollow; feeling hard |
| solitary | not growing in the immediate neighborhood of other individuals |
| sordid | dingy-looking |
| sp. nov. | new species |
| sphagnum | a genus of moss that grows in bogs |
| spathulate | shaped like a spatula or spoon, oblong with a narrowing base |
| species | classification grouping below family and genus, often used for organisms capable of interbreeding (though less common "hybrids" can occur between species), among anamorphic fungi that are not known to breed sexually, it refers to a certain level of similarity in form or function; named by genus name in upper case and species name in lower case, e.g. Russula emetica |
| spermatic | resembling the odor of human sperm or semen |
| sphaerocyst, spherocyst | a round or swollen cell in flesh of certain mushrooms, particularly Russula and Lactarius |
| sphaerocyte, spherocyte | round cell of pellis or veil |
| spine | long slender sharp projection |
| spiny | having many spines |
| sporadic | irregular in its occurrence, either in time or location |
| spore | reproductive cell or "seed" of a fungus, produced on specialized cells, which in gilled mushrooms are on the gills |
| spore print | a visible deposit of spores obtained by allowing a gilled mushroom to drop spores onto white paper for a few hours or overnight |
| spore wall | in the most complex spore wall there are five layers from outer to inner: perisporium, non-pigmented and usually enveloping spore like a bag which may disappear; exosporium, usually non-pigmented and can often be distinguished chemically from other layers, episporium, a continuation of outer wall of basidium, the thickest layer and the one providing structural support, mesosporium, a barely distinguishable delicate structure, and endosporium, which can vary from very thick (in which case it can then be divided into inner and outer part) or seemingly absent, or truly absent; the presence or absence of layers varies with species |
| sporocarp | a structure in which or on which spores are produced, often used for fruiting body, consisting of cap, gills, and stem |
| spotted | with roundish areas different in color from the rest of the surface |
| squamose | scaly, with moderate to large scales |
| squamule | scale |
| squamulose | with small scales |
| squarrose | covered with upright or curved-up pointed scales |
| squarrulose | covered with small upright pointed scales |
| stalk | same as stipe or stem |
| stature | characteristic shape |
| stellate | star-shaped |
| stem | the column supporting the cap in most mushroom, more correctly called the stipe |
| sterigmata | elongated appendages or "arms" on the basidium upon which spores are borne |
| sterile | not producing spores |
| stipe | the correct name for the "stem" of a mushroom |
| stipitate | having a stipe (or stem) |
| stipitipellis | surface layer of the stem |
| stramineous | straw-colored |
| strangulate | constricted |
| streaked | having faint lines or bands, used when appressed fibrils appear like bands or faint lines |
| stria (plural striae) | lines or fine grooves which may be parallel or radiating |
| striate | marked with lines or fine grooves which may be parallel or radiating |
| strigose | having long stiff hairs |
| stroma (plural stromata) | a mass or matrix of vegetative hyphae, with or without tissue of the host, sometimes sclerotium-like in form, in or on which spores or fruiting bodies are produced |
| stuffed | containing loose material in the interior, not hollow or solid |
| sub- | near, nearly, more or less, somewhat, slightly; below or under; subdivision of |
| subclose | a term used occasionally of gill spacing, intermediate between close and crowded, might also be used to mean more or less close |
| subcrowded | a term used occasionally of gill spacing, intermediate between close and crowded, might also be used to mean more or less crowded |
| subdecurrent | of gills, meaning short decurrent or nearly decurrent or somewhat decurrent (i.e. intermediate between adnate and decurrent, when attachment extends slightly further down stem than when adnate) |
| subdistant | of gill spacing, intermediate between close and distant, the order being crowded, (subcrowded), (subclose), close, subdistant, distant |
| subfusiform | of spores, elongated, tapered at one end and rounded at the other |
| subgills | the short gills that do not span the entire distance from margin to stem |
| subglobose | of spores, nearly spherical or round; according to one set of criteria (Bas' work on Amanita) ratio of length to width 1.05-1.15 |
| subhymenium | a differentiated tissue just beneath the hymenium |
| subicule | same as subiculum |
| subiculum | a net-, wool-, or crust-like growth of mycelium under fruiting bodies |
| subisodiametric | of spore sizes, the average length divided by the average width has a value from 1.16-1.27: with isodiametric spores this value is 1.0-1.15, and with heterodiametric spores it is greater than 1.27 |
| subpellis | the layer that separates the pellis from the trama; often considered the same as the hypoderm |
| substrate | the material that a fungus is growing on |
| substratum | substrate, the material that a fungus is growing on |
| subtomentose | with a somewhat dense layer of matted down or soft hairs; or like a newly sheared lamb |
| subulate | awl-shaped (subula = awl); of cystidia, swollen between the middle and the slightly tapered base and pointed at top |
| subviscid | slightly sticky, thinly viscid |
| sulcate | grooved, furrowed |
| superior | of a ring, forming on the upper part of the stem |
| suprahilar disc | same as plage |
| suprapellis | the outermost layer of the pellis, it may be undifferentiated (cells not distinct from those of underlying flesh), derm (cells arranged perpendicularly to surface), or cutis (cells arranged more or less parallel to surface) |
| synonym | another name for the same species, especially an earlier or illegitimate name not currently used for the species; if two or more names are based on the same type, they are homotypic synonyms, sometimes indicated by three horizontal lines between the two names, but if they are based on different types, they are heterotypic, sometimes indicated by two horizontal lines between the two names; in this program, alternate names following the primary name are earlier or later or illegitimate names representing all or part of the concept of the primary name: the primary name includes the alternate name, but the alternate name may not include the whole taxon represented by the primary name |
| synonymous | representing the same species |
| synonymize | subsume a species name under another species name |