Jason Sherman, age 12, of Dubuque, Iowa, for his question:

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MUSHROOM AND A TOADSTOOL?

Botanists do not separate mushrooms and toadstools into two different groups. But people generally give the name "mushroom" to the kinds that can be eaten and "toadstools" to those that are poisonous.

Children usually think of all mushrooms as toadstools, and then avoid all of them growing wild as being poisonous. This is good in many ways, since children should never eat anything that could possibly be unsafe. Also, only a skilled person can tell definitely which mushrooms are safe and which contain deadly poisons. For this reason, all wild growing plants should be avoided.

There are about 38,000 known species of mushrooms. They are in the fungi family and grow in decaying vegetable matter. The name comes from the French word for moss.