What is a Mushroom?

Photo by Wayne Slape

Mushrooms can be quite mysterious. They seem to suddenly appear out of now where and just as quickly disappear.Because of the mushrooms mysterious nature, a lot of misinformation is spread in the way of stories, myths and superstition. This has led to social and cultural fear called #Fungophobia, a term coined by British mycologist William Delisle, which spread to #Australia and #America during #British colonisation¹.

What is a mushroom?

A #mushroom is sexual organ of a much larger organism called #fungi. The main purpose for the mushroom is to produce #spores for #sexual reproduction².As a mushroom #grower I like to consider the mushroom as a fruit and you will often see it referenced as a fruiting body. This is because the mushroom has more functions then just sexual reproduction³. The mushroom is the fruit of a much larger organism called fungi.

What is a Fungus?

The #fungus is considered the whole #organism. This organism is made up of a collective vegetative #network of branching filaments called #mycelium ³.In the case of #Saprophytic fungi (fungi that live on dead organic material), the mycelium grows through and feeds on the #dead material , braking it down into #compost, to be #recycled into the #ecosystem ⁴. It is #natures #recycling system.When the conditions are right the fungus forms a mushroom made up of tightly packed mycelium³.

So what is the myceliums collective vegetative network made out of?

The mycelium network is made up of hyphae which are microscopic³. The individual strands maybe appear to be visible as threads. However, this is not the case, as they have just become interwoven to form cords.

All the hyphal cells are joined together but are share their cell contents, via a little hole called a septal pore⁵. 

At the ends of the hyphae network are what are called hyphal tips. It is at these tips where the organism uses a structure called the #Spizenkorper as a #chemical factory⁶.
As the #hyphae are only one cell thick, the organism is not capable of producing an enclosed feeding system. The hyphae excrete compounds from the Spizenkorper to digest food externally and then absorb it into their cells6.
Not only does the Spizenkorper excrete compounds to digest it also excretes compounds that protect them from disease and to interact with the ecosystem⁶.

At Slapes Mushroom House, we provide products of the saprophytic fungi group. Saprophytic (feeding on dead or decomposing matter) fungi are safe to grow and beneficial to the garden. They can increase soil nutrients , improve beneficial organism populations, reduce nematodes and other parasites and provide you with delicious food.
Saprophytic fungi grow well on woody substrates as they have the advantage over other organism that find it hard to digest. 

1. "Fighting Fungophobia (or Mycophobia) …the fear of mushrooms", Temperate Climate #Permaculture. Retrieved 15/02/2018

2."Radical Mycology, Atreatise On Sereing & Working With Fungi", Chthaeus Press 2016, Author Peter #McCoy, pg 9 Basidiomycota

3. "Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World", Ten Speed Press 2005, Author Paul #Stamets, Chapter 2 The Mushroom Life Cycle.

4 "Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World", Ten Speed Press 2005, Author Paul Stamets, Chapter 3 Mushrooms in their #Natural #Habitats.

5."Radical Mycology, Atreatise On Sereing & Working With Fungi", Chthaeus Press 2016, Author Peter McCoy, pg14 From the center to the periphery

6."Radical Mycology, Atreatise On Sereing & Working With Fungi", Chthaeus Press 2016, Author Peter McCoy, pg15 the mystery of myceliation