Mushrooms - what are they?
This timelapse shows the surprising power of mushroom buds, as they burst through the soil and elegantly expand their caps. What we see on the surface, though, is only a part of organism, called mushroom fruit. The fruit is a short-lived reproductive structure, consisting 92% of water . Meanwhile, mycelium of the mushroom sits and sprouts from the soil. This part, in contrast to the fruit, can live for years.
Mushrooms are a fungus, and unlike plants, mushrooms do not require sunlight to make energy for themselves.
Watch The purpose of life, an excellent mushroom timelapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDkR2HIlEbc
Watch & learn TED Lesson:
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world
#mushrooms #fungi #biodiversity
The fungus is among us!
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered what material they use for these structures. Cellulose? something else? simple membranes so stuffed with water they hold up?
ReplyDeleteAs more research comes to us concerning mushrooms and fungi, the mystery of what they do only deepens. For myself the intersection between these fungi and plants is of great interest. The operate symbiotically in many cases. One needs the other to live.
ReplyDeleteTrey Pitsenberger I'm lichen that thought :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks ann kiszt It just a spore of an idea :)
ReplyDeleteIs that a fungi in your pocket, or...
ReplyDeleteThere is even a company that is pioneering the use of mycelium as building materials. @MOGU_Italy
ReplyDeleteTrey Pitsenberger Many plants need symbiotic fungi, to live and prosper. But fungi itself not need such partnership. The only, what fungi need, is organic matter.
ReplyDeleteBut You are right about power of symbiosis – and related to this coevolution. There are two opposite faces of life evolution on Earth: cooperation and competition…
Mariusz Rozpędek yes that's true. My interests are focused on the horticultural aspects of fungi, which mostly deals with the symbiotic relationship between plant roots and mycelium :)
ReplyDeleteAntenna Wilde I thought it was an aspen grove? We do get some astonishingly large life forms in the forest, don't we?
ReplyDeleteTrey Pitsenberger So what is the material that composes the structure of the fungal fruiting body? We must know that, surely? Ok fine, I'll ask google.
ReplyDeleteann kiszt from what I gather it's the very mycelium that exists underground, emerging and forming the fruiting bodies we recognize, often above ground.
ReplyDeletecellulase and protein is the answer I sought.
ReplyDeleteI heard a resident of Mendocino, California describe seeing a truck lifted off of the ground, by growing mushrooms! The climate is excellent there for wild mushrooms..
ReplyDeletehaha.. I think it was a Subaru Shitake..
ReplyDelete