Maine Mycological Society Presentation

When we use a 10x hand lens in the field, we are able to see details of the surfaces of mushrooms that might not otherwise be clear to our unaided eyes – surface scales and hairs, spore producing tissue, etc. But in the laboratory, with a compound microscope and an increased resolution of 1000 times that of the unaided eye, the intricate magnified world is truly astonishing. The details of mushroom spores and their exotic surface ornamentations, the remarkable development of filamentous mushroom tissue which creates the structure of stalk, cap and gills, the intricate cystidial structures that can be important in species determinations (but of unknown function), as well as many other hidden anatomical features expand our appreciation of the beauty of mushrooms and their place in the natural world.