What is the difference between button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms? Learn to tell them apart quickly

The button mushroom is the most expensive type of mushroom on the Chinese market, the shiitake mushroom has long been known as the "king of mountain delicacies" and is a high-protein, low-fat nutritional health food, and the straw mushroom tastes extremely good and is known as the "orchid mushroom" and the "delicious paddy-straw mushroom". Do you know how they differ? Let's take a look together below!

Button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms belong to different families and genera

1. Button mushroom: The button mushroom is a fungus of the kingdom Fungi, phylum Basidiomycota, class Basidiomycetes, order Agaricales, family Tricholomataceae, genus Tricholoma.

2. Shiitake mushroom: The shiitake mushroom is a fungus of the phylum Basidiomycota, subphylum Agaricomycotina, class Agaricomycetes, subclass Agaricomycetidae, order Agaricales, family Marasmiaceae, genus Lentinula.

3. Straw mushroom: The straw mushroom is a fungus of the kingdom Fungi, phylum Basidiomycota, subphylum Agaricomycotina, class Agaricomycetes, subclass Agaricomycetidae, order Agaricales, family Pluteaceae, genus Volvariella.

Button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms have different places of origin

1. Button mushroom: The main producing areas of the button mushroom are grassland regions such as East Ujimqin Banner, West Ujimqin Banner and Abag Banner in Xilingol League, Hulunbuir City, and Tongliao.

2. Shiitake mushroom: The main producing areas of the shiitake mushroom are provinces and regions such as Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Gansu.

3. Straw mushroom: The straw mushroom is mostly produced in provinces and regions such as Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Taiwan, China.

Button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms have different alternative names

1. Button mushroom: The alternative names of the button mushroom include white mushroom, Mongolian button mushroom, cloud-plate mushroom, silver plate, and camp plate.

2. Shiitake mushroom: The alternative names of the shiitake mushroom include flower mushroom, fragrant message, shiitake, winter mushroom, thick mushroom, flower mushroom, fragrant mushroom, fragrant fungus, winter mushroom, and fragrant mushroom.

3. Straw mushroom: The alternative names of the straw mushroom include delicious straw mushroom, delicious paddy-straw mushroom, orchid mushroom, stalk mushroom, hemp mushroom, Chinese mushroom, and small paddy-straw mushroom.

Morphological differences between button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms

1. Button mushroom: The cap of the button mushroom is 17 cm in diameter, hemispherical to flat, white, smooth, with the margin rolled inward at first, the flesh white, thick, and aromatic. The gills are white, adnexed, dense, of unequal length, the stipe central, stout, 3.5-7 cm long, 1.5-4.6 cm thick, slightly swollen at the base, white, solid, and the spores elliptical.

2. Shiitake mushroom: The cap of the shiitake mushroom is 5-12 cm in diameter, sometimes reaching 20 cm, hemispherical when young, later flat to slightly flat, with the surface rhomboid-colored, light brown, dark brown to deep cinnamon, often with dark scales in the center, while the margin often has dirty-white hairy or floccose scales, the flesh white, slightly thick or thick, fine and dense, and aromatic.

3. Straw mushroom: The cap of the straw mushroom is 5-12 cm in diameter, reaching 21 cm in large ones, mouse-gray, darker in the center and gradually lighter around, with radial dark cilia, sometimes with raised triangular scales, the stipe cylindrical, 0.8-1.5 cm in diameter, 3-8 cm long, and when the fruiting body is not fully mature, the gills are white, gradually turning pink during maturation, and finally dark brown.

Differences in effects between button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and straw mushrooms

1. Button mushroom: The button mushroom is sweet in taste and neutral in nature, and has effects such as benefiting the intestines and boosting qi, dispersing blood heat, releasing the exterior and resolving phlegm, and regulating qi.

2. Shiitake mushroom: The shiitake mushroom is sweet in taste and neutral to cool in nature, enters the liver and stomach meridians, and has the effects of tonifying the liver and kidneys, strengthening the spleen and stomach, benefiting qi and blood, improving intelligence and calming the mind, and beautifying the complexion. It can also resolve phlegm and regulate qi, benefit the stomach and harmonize the center, detoxify, resist tumors, and promote the eruption of measles.

3. Straw mushroom: The straw mushroom is cold in nature, sweet in taste, slightly salty, and non-toxic, and has the effects of promoting digestion and dispelling heat, tonifying the spleen and boosting qi, clearing summer heat, nourishing yin and strengthening yang, increasing breast milk, preventing scurvy, promoting wound healing, protecting the liver and strengthening the stomach, and enhancing human immunity.