Funky Fungus
- alizajoy2011
- Nov 14
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 17
The other day, we visited our favourite woods, in hope of seeing mushrooms, fly agaric especially. (We find that mushrooms tend to appear in large quantities there, hence why its our favourite) We had quite a successful trip.
When we arrived, the car park was fairly busy, but we did find a space reasonably fast. When we got into the woods, there were mushrooms practically everywhere we looked, from decaying logs on the ground to the tips of the tree tops.
I could identify a few of them, such as chicken of the woods, fly agaric, tawny grisette, common earth balls and a shaggy ink cap (I was pleased with that, I've always wanted to see one, but I've never had the chance.)
There was 100s more than that I couldn't identify, and if I went round identifying them all, I'd still be there.
The 5 main types of Fungus
You may not think much of fungi. You may think they're just another plant, but in actual fact that is not true. Fungi are sort-of their own thing, and they have many types, but the 5 main ones are:
Mushrooms - they're like the common type, probably what comes to mind when I say fungi.
Yeasts - they are single celled organisms that are used to make bread and beer, and are found in the air, all around us and even on us!
Moulds - everyone knows what mould is, right? That annoying stuff that grows on fruit and veg, on walls and bread, and just like, everything else. (not quite)
Sac fungi - these are often little, but a few are big enough to be seen by the naked eye (can an eye even be dressed? No idea. Anyway, back to the point...) and they look a little bit like mushrooms. Some are moulds, however, there are slight differences.
And even Aquatic fungi - these ones like wet environments, and will grow into plant or animal cells to feed. Well that's just... brutal.
Mushroom "roots"
Mushroom roots are not actually called roots; they're called hyphae. In a way they're sort-of like the brain of the fungus, as through the massive network, hyphae can pass messages to each other. If one hyphae had masses of nutrients, meanwhile another hyphae had less or no nutrients, the one with more can pass some nutrients across via the network. In a teaspoon of heathy soil, there can be 6.2 miles of hyphae. The whole network with all the hyphae in is called the mycelium. Pretty cool I reckon.
However, if you are starting to think hyphae get on, and they live in peace, then you are quite mistaken.
Even fungi fight
Some fungi fight by making contact with other types of fungi, whilst others will fight without touching. Some will poison the ground they are living in, spreading it to the other fungus whilst others will eat each other. So, as you can see, fungi do not live in peace all the time. Weirdly enough, the whole reason they fight is for food.
Partners with plants
The most common type of mycorrhiza (which, by the way, is a partnership between a mycelium and plant roots) occurs on the roots of non woody plants. The fungus sort-of acts as an extension lead, and it does this by growing into the plants cells, and growing further down into the soil. It then feeds the plant by taking nutrients that the plant needs and sending them back up to the plant.
As you can see, the world of fungi is complex and interesting and my love of fungi inspired the post name, my love of nature and even the name of this site!!!(sorry about the photo dump I just love fungi too much)
A very interesting article FF; your love of fungi shining through!
Also, well done Zak - the photos are good - well focused on the subject with shallow depths of field. I particularly like the second one. - the bracket fungus which looks almost like a feather.
I can imagine the conversation between the two in the “war” section….
“Ere Charlie, what’s that on your back?”
“Ooh oy fink oy cort a mould”
“Eeeek! Well you can keep away from me then!”
Good article , very interesting things , I probably have this wrong , but I think the biggest living organism covers several acres in the usa and its this big , like huge underground mushroom thingy, root stuff , big names escape me ! From memory its 9 acres ?
I like the photos , those big bracket look like some kind of ufo ,parked up and waiting , or just like bracket fungus on a tree ..I waffle on , apparently there has been an explosion of honey fungus this year , poor shrubs and trees , though my favourite have always been fly agaric . We grew a lot of shaggy inkcap quite unintenionally in a trug…
Great post!
Fungi are funny things indeed. Beautiful, delicate and complex, yet underneath it all, pretty robust. They're also incredibly down to earth. Rather a lot like yourself! 😘 Xx