Mugshot

Me as Known From My Mugs

I got this mug from my in-laws for Christmas once and I believe the theme was chosen as they know I’m naturalist type. While my naturely interests are mainly plants and insects, I do appreciate a good mushroom. This mug is hefty and great for a good-sized cup of coffee in the morning.

I’ll readily admit to knowing very little about the fungal life, but I do know that fungi play many important ecological roles. Historically they’ve often been lumped into a category with plants (because mushrooms don’t move and grow up from the ground like plants?), but fungi are genetically more similar to animals than to plants.

I also know that they’re strange – they do things…strangely. For example, they can team up with algae, cyanobacteria, and possibly other organisms, to make lichens – the most bizarre of all life forms.

A mushroom is the temporary above-ground structure sent up by the fungus to cast its spores to the wind. Most of its ‘body’ is underground in the form of a web of filaments that mushroom scientists (aka mycologists) call ‘hyphae’.

So next time you see a mushroom, remember that what you’re seeing is not a plant and not an animal, it’s a fun guy!