Are Mushrooms Vegetable?

depends on the context

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

Aren't mushrooms a type of fungus?

Yeah, they're not photosynthetic, so Logan votes 'no.' 

I believe they are a type of vitamin, or perhaps mineral. 

They are as much a vegetable as Athlete's foot or a yeast infection are.  Still hungry?

They are a alien form and they have spoken with me.

Well, in terms of food groups I say yeah, but in bio terms mushrooms are definitely fungi.  

I thought they were an official staple of the endangered Hippie as of the 1960s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landis 

I thought they were an official staple of the endangered Hippie as of the 1960s.

No, that's Wheat grass.  Or just 'grass' rather.

Well, "vegetable" refers to the edible parts of a plant, exclusive of the reproductive bits (those are "fruit").  Since mushrooms are fungi, mushrooms are not plants.  Therefore, they are clearly not parts of plants...and thus, mushrooms are not vegetables.  The only way a mushroom can be a vegetable is to redefine the word "vegetable" or redefine the membership of the kingdom of plants to include fungus.

Regarding the definition of the word "vegetable," Wikipedia is somewhat wrong about the uncertainty of scope.  Amongst botanists and other people who study plants for a living, there is really little ambiguity about the definition of the word "vegetable."  This doesn't communicate well on the Internet, where people with no authority still enjoy expressing (and therefore propagating) uninformed opinion.  Plant = vegetable parts + fruit parts.  That said, you won't find botanists referring to plant parts with the generic label of "vegetable", just like you won't find surgeons referring to "guts"...more specific nomenclature is generally more useful.

As for using "vegetable" as a name for things you eat, call it whatever you like!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega 

Well, "vegetable" refers to the edible parts of a plant, exclusive of the reproductive bits (those are "fruit").  Since mushrooms are fungi, mushrooms are not plants.  Therefore, they are clearly not parts of plants...and thus, mushrooms are not vegetables.  The only way a mushroom can be a vegetable is to redefine the word "vegetable" or redefine the membership of the kingdom of plants to include fungus.

 

Regarding the definition of the word "vegetable," Wikipedia is somewhat wrong about the uncertainty of scope.  Amongst botanists and other people who study plants for a living, there is really little ambiguity about the definition of the word "vegetable."  This doesn't communicate well on the Internet, where people with no authority still enjoy expressing (and therefore propagating) uninformed opinion.  Plant = vegetable parts + fruit parts.  That said, you won't find botanists referring to plant parts with the generic label of "vegetable", just like you won't find surgeons referring to "guts"...more specific nomenclature is generally more useful.

 

As for using "vegetable" as a name for things you eat, call it whatever you like!

Wow, you just ruined this thread.....

Mushrooms are definitely not plants. Its classified as a fungus. But if I was in the grocery market, the I'd consider mushrooms to be vegetable, lol. 

Fungus is a third evolutionary path, somewhere between plants and animals.

Animals control their internal systems with hormones and plants with terpenes. One of the reasons that many herbal remedies basically sort of work is that a lot of terpenes are close to hormones in their structure.

It's theorized that hormones are an evolutionary advancement of terpenes.

Fungi don't use terpenes or hormones - they use oxygenated triterpenes, which are a lot more complex than regular terpenes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Landis 

I thought they were an official staple of the endangered Hippie as of the 1960s.

Yeah the ones that grow in cow poop with the golden ring.