Intergermansk - mushrooms

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, "Pascal A. Kramm" <pkramm@A...> wrote:

>"Mushroom" is the general term, just like e.g. "tree" is general.
>"Champignon" is a specific type of mushroom, just like an "oak" is a
>specific type of tree.
If "champignon" is the name of a specific species of mushroom, what
is the generic French word for "mushroom"?  If there isn't one then
one must know the species of mushroom before one can talk about it or
order it, which strikes me as rather cumbersome.

"Mushroom" is not really general in the way that "tree"
is.  "Mushroom" is rather a subset of fungus of the class
Basidiomycetes.  The class contains other fungi which don't have the
characteristic cap and stem.

I would say that "tree" is analogous to "fungus," "deciduous tree"
to "mushroom," and "Agaricus campestris" to "Quercus robur."

Charlie
http:wiki.frath.net/User:Caeruleancentaur

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