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When I was young , hunting mushrooms was a menage affair . We are Italian , so furious - solid food solicitation is in our gene . And I loved it : the trek through the cool wood , the moment the rule of camouflaged mushrooms emerge and they suddenly appear everywhere . It feel wondrous when a mushroom bulge out up where there was n’t one the day before — a propensity of mushrooms that lends them an aura of whodunit . But , scientifically , it ’s all somewhat straight . Mushrooms are the procreative structures , the fruit bodies , of fungi . When you kick up the plum duff of the woods floor or interrupt open a rotting log , that cotton fiber - candy - like stuff is a fungus . It ’s compose of strings of microscopic cellphone that sop up nutrients and water from whatever substratum it ’s dwell in . When the fungus have water to the nascent fruiting consistence , they tumefy up like a sponge and labour through the world , appear as if by magic trick .
BeechThis is a varietal of the beech mushroom ( in the genus hypsizygus ) , which is native to East Asia . The common names for these mushrooms vary , and include white beech oyster and clamshell huitre mushroom , but the experience is the same : They are all unfluctuating and crunchy . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
My original sense of wonderment has n’t dissipated throughout the many years I have analyse mushrooms . But mushroom were n’t much on my creative thinker throughout my young adulthood — not until I went hike in a Colorado conifer forest . One bit we were walk through the woods , and then of a sudden , as if a caul was swipe , we find the spiritual rebirth of the forest floor — everywhere , porcini .
Hen of the WoodsHen of the woods , also jazz as maitake ( Grifola frondosa ) , is an East Coast sponge that raise under oak . It is a choice edible , latterly cultivated . It has been used in traditional Taiwanese medicine for thousands of age . pic by : Lynn Karlin .
I develop the foraging bug big metre after that , but I was often skunked . I did n’t really sympathise why the mushroom I wanted to corrode grew where and when they did . That ’s why I joined the New York Mycological Society : to excavate the enigma of successful search “ for the pot . ” At early meetings of the club , I feigned interest group in the lectures on slime moulding or whatever , but candidly , I just wanted to learn where I could find lots of morels .
ChanterelleThere are a number of chanterelle species . This one , Cantharellus cibarius , is the most common , and it is wonderful , with an aroma of apricots . It is a mycorrhizal fungus that grows in association with beech , oak , and coniferous tree . It is exclusively wild - crafted . photograph by : Lynn Karlin .
So I get down to hang forays — first those organized by the NYMS , then further abroad . These events , put together by mycological societies or professional mushroom-shaped cloud hunter all over the country , are like Trekkie conventions for mushroom-shaped cloud partisan . There are guided walks in the woods with mycologists , classes on mushroom finish , lots of mushroom feeding , and lectures by academics . I set out to distinguish types of mushrooms , remember the nomenclature , and understand their ancient and complex kinship with plants . In essence , I learned to look under the correct trees .
ShiitakeShiitake ( Lentinula edodes ) is native to East Asia , where it has been cultivated for a millennium . The ease of grow Oriental black mushroom draw it one of the most popular mushrooms for home base finish . It is an excellent edible and is also an significant medicinal in traditional Formosan medicine . exposure by : Lynn Karlin .
I find that some fungi , the saprophytes , are the recyclers of nature , and if it were n’t for them we ’d be living under mile of plant dust . Most of the mushrooms we buy in fund are saprophytic organism , largely because they are well-off to grow . You just need to give them their preferred food — woodwind instrument chips in some cases . The Japanese figured out how to cultivate the shiitake , a decayer of Shii tree diagram , centuries ago . In the West , we started withAgaricus bisporus , the white button mushroom , which dilapidate compost . But mushroom are no longer a one- or two - coinage trade good . An increase variety of cultivar like hen of the Wood and blewits are finding their way into American markets .
MorelMorels ( morchella ) are perhaps the best - sleep together edible mushroom . Some species are mycorrhizal while others are saprophytic , so it ’s laborious to nail the status that lead to fruiting . Photo by : Lynn Karlin .
truffle are one of the few types of tame mushrooms that are not saprophytes . They are particular and hard to grow because they are mutualists : the fruiting bodies of mycorrhizal fungi , which hold out on and in the rootage of hold up plants . They trade nutrient in the soil for dough produced by the plant life . In ecumenical , plants without a mycorrhizal fungus living on their roots do not expand , and in the case of conifers , mycorrhizal fungi are so important that without them the tree diagram may die of malnutrition . For those who train chocolate truffle , it ’s deserving establish an orchard to support them because they can deal for thousands of dollar a pound . But all the other mycorrhizal fungi we corrode , like porcini and chanterelle mushrooms , are picked in the wild .
PortobelloThe portobello ( Agaricus bisporus ) is a grown - up crimini mushroom-shaped cloud ; the portobello has more taste sensation 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 fungous pathogen that can pop plant and the marvelous endophytes , which are kingdom Fungi that live between and within the cell of all works and can function as a kind of vestige resistant organisation . Without them , if farmers sterilise their seedlings , for instance , the industrial plant are less able to tolerate such stress as drought .
BeechLike all mushrooms , the brown beech , or shimeji ( Hypsizygus tessellatus ) , produces large quantities of vitamin D2 when exposed to ultraviolet Light Within . picture by : Lynn Karlin .
I was stunned to memorise of the sheer book of fungous life history on Earth : 25 percent of the biomass ! Six clip more coinage than plants ! One fungus is the largest living organism on the planet ! Up to 10 spore inhale with every breath ! Really , I felt like I was being pummeled by fungal revelations . And they proceed . A recent subject describes the key role fungal enzyme could act in the creation of biofuels .
Like most people , I long define universe by what I could see , when , in fact , it ’s what we ca n’t see — the microbial community — that is so vitally important to life story . I reckon we all seek to observe room to understand truths that are bigger than ourselves . The report of fungi was the window by which I came to appreciate , both literally and metaphorically , that a spoonful of soil contains an entire world .
Eugenia Bone is writer ofMycophilia : Apocalypse from the Weird World of Mushrooms(Rodale , 2011 ) .
