Spores create new individuals after being carried away on the wind and landing in a good place for growth. True mushrooms typically look like umbrellas. They consist of a stalk topped by a flat or cup-shaped cap. Their spores are produced on special cells called basidia, located on the underside of the cap. The class of fungi whose spores are produced by basidia are called Basidiomycetes.
People often ask about the difference between toadstools and mushrooms.
Any mushroom can be called a toadstool, but this word usually refers to a poisonous mushroom. Click the link to see some photographs of mushrooms with gills and mushrooms without gills. While mushrooms may seem to sprout overnight, it actually takes days or weeks for one to develop. Most of the growth of a fungus goes unnoticed because it occurs underground. The underground body of a fungus, called the mycelium, is made of moist thread-like filaments called hyphae.