A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-producing part of a fungus, often shaped like a small umbrella, that grows in soil or on decaying material. Some mushrooms are edible, while others are poisonous.
From Middle French *mousseron* or *mousseron*, likely from a word related to *mousse* “moss,” because mushrooms often grow in damp, mossy places. The exact origin is uncertain but clearly linked to older European words for fungi.
What we call a mushroom is just the fruiting body—the rest of the fungus can spread underground for meters or even kilometers. Some of the largest living organisms on Earth are actually giant fungal networks. So picking a mushroom is like plucking one apple from a tree you can’t see.
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