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When I was young , hunt down mushrooms was a fellowship thing . We are Italian , so wild - intellectual nourishment collection is in our factor . And I love it : the treks through the coolheaded woods , the import the radiation pattern of camouflage mushrooms emerged and they suddenly appear everywhere . It feel wondrous when a mushroom popped up where there was n’t one the day before — a tendency of mushroom that lends them an atmosphere of mystery . But , scientifically , it ’s all pretty straightforward . mushroom are the procreative structures , the fruiting bodies , of fungus kingdom . When you kick up the plum duff of the forest flooring or split undetermined a rotting logarithm , that cotton - confect - alike stuff is a fungus . It ’s write of string of microscopical cells that occupy nutrients and water from whatever substrate it ’s hold out in . When the fungus delivers piss to the nascent fruiting bodies , they puff up up like a sponge and fight through the worldly concern , appearing as if by illusion .
BeechThis is a varietal of the beech mushroom ( in the genus hypsizygus ) , which is aboriginal to East Asia . The common name calling for these mushroom deviate , and include white beech oyster and clamshell oyster mushroom-shaped cloud , but the experience is the same : They are all firm and crunchy . photograph by : Lynn Karlin .
My original sense of wonder has n’t dissipated throughout the many years I have studied mushroom . But mushroom-shaped cloud were n’t much on my mind throughout my young maturity — not until I went hiking in a Colorado coniferous tree timber . One minute of arc we were walking through the Natalie Wood , and then suddenly , as if a embryonic membrane was lifted , we witnessed the conversion of the wood floor — everywhere , porcini .
Hen of the WoodsHen of the woods , also known as maitake ( Grifola frondosa ) , is an East Coast sponger that grows under oak tree . It is a option edible , recently cultivated . It has been used in traditional Taiwanese medicine for thousands of years . exposure by : Lynn Karlin .
I developed the foraging hemipteran big time after that , but I was often skunked . I did n’t really infer why the mushrooms I want to eat grew where and when they did . That ’s why I joined the New York Mycological Society : to excavate the secret of successful hunt “ for the pot . ” At other meetings of the club , I pretend interest in the lecture on slime mold or whatever , but frankly , I just require to learn where I could find lots of morels .
ChanterelleThere are a number of chantarelle species . This one , Cantharellus cibarius , is the most common , and it is wonderful , with an odour of apricots . It is a mycorrhizal fungus that develop in association with beech , oak , and coniferous tree . It is exclusively wild - craft . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
So I begin to attend maraud — first those engineer by the NYMS , then further afield . These events , put together by mycological societies or professional mushroom hunters all over the country , are like Trekkie conventions for mushroom enthusiasts . There are channelise walk in the woods with mycologists , classes on mushroom finish , draw of mushroom cloud eating , and lectures by academics . I started to realise type of mushrooms , remember the terminology , and sympathize their ancient and complex relationships with industrial plant . In essence , I learned to look under the good trees .
ShiitakeShiitake ( Lentinula edodes ) is native to East Asia , where it has been cultivated for a millennium . The ease of uprise shiitake makes it one of the most popular mushroom for home culture . It is an excellent edible and is also an important medicinal in traditional Formosan medicament . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
I light upon that some kingdom Fungi , the saprophytes , are the recyclers of nature , and if it were n’t for them we ’d be living under mile of flora debris . Most of the mushrooms we corrupt in stores are saprophytic organism , mostly because they are easy to produce . You just need to give them their favor food — wood flake in some case . The Japanese figured out how to cultivate the golden oak mushroom , a decayer of Shii trees , centuries ago . In the West , we start withAgaricus bisporus , the white button mushroom , which decay compost . But mushrooms are no longer a one- or two - coinage commodity . An increasing diversity of cultivars like biddy of the woods and blewits are finding their way into American markets .
MorelMorels ( genus Morchella ) are perhaps the best - know edible mushroom . Some metal money are mycorrhizal while others are saprophytic , so it ’s strong to pinpoint the precondition that contribute to fruiting . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
truffle are one of the few type of cultivated mushroom that are not saprophyte . They are fussy and heavy to originate because they are mutualists : the fruit bodies of mycorrhizal fungus kingdom , which live on and in the root of living works . They trade food in the soil for sugar produce by the plant . In general , plant without a mycorrhizal fungus exist on their roots do not expand , and in the subject of coniferous tree , mycorrhizal fungi are so important that without them the tree may pass away of malnutrition . For those who cultivate truffles , it ’s worth establishing an plantation to support them because they can sell for one thousand of dollars a dog pound . But all the other mycorrhizal fungi we deplete , like porcini and chanterelle mushrooms , are pick in the wild .
PortobelloThe portobello ( Agaricus bisporus ) is a grown - up crimini mushroom ; the portobello has more predilection because it has mature spore , and spore has feel . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
Then there are all the fungi we ca n’t always see : the fungal pathogen that can kill industrial plant and the marvelous endophytes , which are fungi that live between and within the cells of all works and can function as a kind of shadow resistant system . Without them , if Fannie Merritt Farmer unsex their seedling , for instance , the plants are less able to put up such stresses as drought .
BeechLike all mushroom , the brown beech , or shimeji ( Hypsizygus tessellatus ) , make orotund quantity of vitamin D2 when expose to ultraviolet Inner Light . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
I was astonished to learn of the see-through volume of fungous life sentence on Earth : 25 percentage of the biomass ! Six times more mintage than plants ! One fungus is the largest living organism on the planet ! Up to 10 spores inhale with every breathing spell ! Really , I palpate like I was being pummeled by fungal Book of Revelation . And they remain . A late report name the primal role fungal enzyme could act in the creation of biofuels .
Like most people , I long defined universe by what I could see , when , in fact , it ’s what we ca n’t see — the microbic community — that is so vitally important to lifespan . I think we all judge to find ways to translate truth that are bigger than ourselves . The sketch of fungi was the windowpane by which I fare to apprize , both literally and metaphorically , that a spoonful of soil contains an intact world .
Eugenia Bone is source ofMycophilia : Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms(Rodale , 2011 ) .
