Mushrooms vary from pinhead in size to basketballs. The colors of mushrooms include all the colors of the rainbow. The typical mushroom has a stem with a cap on top, and yet other fungi can look like a bird's nest, lumps of jelly, volleyballs, ocean coral, and stars. Because of their general shape and the type of spore-producing structure, mushrooms have been placed in certain categories. These include gill fungi, tube fungi, shelf fungi, cup fungi, coral fungi, jelly fungi, saddle fungi, and stomach fungi.
Mushrooms form a part of the ecology of a forest or grassland.
They are dependent on the same limiting factors that influence the trees, grasses, animals, insects, and birds found in any habitat. Each depends upon or is influenced by a wide range of factors including wind, rainfall, temperature, and other organisms. Each factor forms a single strand in the web. The mushroom that we see is actually the fruiting body of the hidden mushroom plant. The mycelium grows in the soil on wood and leaves, beneath the bark of dead trees, and within the heartwood of living trees.