One of my favourite things is fungi. I am a ‘fungilover’.

I have come very late to the love of fungi.

Fungi is everywhere. When you starting looking around you will be amazed at what you see in the fungi world.

This is a photo blog of some of my fungi finds.

The above group of toadstools are on a pile of horse pooh.

Fungi are one of the most important elements of our ecosystems. They are decomposers, feeding on rotting material, converting it to usable substances. Into nutrients and other elements which then become available to plants.

Typical fungi - and fungi that most people recognise, like in the photo above - are comprised of a cap, a stem usually with a ring part way along (remnant of the cap opening and spreading out), gills on the underside of the cap, spores which fall out from the bottom of the cap. And at the very base of the fungi are the hyphae, filaments which branch into a mass called mycelium.

The top part of the fungus above the soil is the fruiting body.

Interestingly a ‘fairy ring’ is one giant fungus. One organism.

The mushrooms or toadstools which form the circle are actually the fruiting bodies of the one creature. The mycelium (vegetative part of the fungus) sends out its filaments (hyphae) in all directions and the fungi emerge above ground appearing as a circle.

Fungi can be very very simple single-celled organisms or very very complex multicellular organisms.

There are about 144,000 known species.

Yeasts, rusts, smuts, molds, mildews, mushrooms.

They are everywhere. Soil, air, water, on and in plants and animals AND in the human body!

They are responsible for some diseases but they are also highly beneficial.

https://www.britannica.com/science/fungus

The biggest organism on the planet is actually a fungus. True story.

Armillaria ostoyae.

It is located in a forest in Oregon, USA. It occupies 965 hectares and may be as old as 8,650 years old. Apparently it is made up of individual fungi all linked together and genetically the same organism. Scientists have tested the DNA to prove this.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus/

Here are a few facts about fungi:

• they are more like animals than plants

• they allow trees to communicate with each other via a network of Mycorrhizal fungi which form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the trees

• some fungi have been used to clean up chemical spills and toxic chemicals, such as the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan

• some glow in the dark, they are bioluminescent

• some are used to create food such as cheeses and alcoholic beverages

• some are used as medicine such as for cancer and multiple sclerosis, antibiotics and some vaccines - made using yeasts

https://www.leaflimb.com/16-Fascinating-Facts-About-Fungi/

So keep your eyes open and be fascinated!