Of all the living organisms that adorn the forest floor, there are few as captivating
as mushrooms.
Certain types of mushroom have been mythologized by writers and artists over the centuries,
largely due to their strange morphologies and peculiar properties.
But what are they, exactly?
Mushrooms, along with a variety of other organisms like yeasts and molds, belong to a group of
organisms called fungi.
Many people perceive fungi like mushrooms as being quite similar to plants, given that
they sprout from the ground and never move.
But plants and mushrooms share very little in common apart from this.
In truth, fungi have more in common with animals than they do with plants, which explains their
omission from the botany series.
Given that fungi exist in their own kingdom, separate from the plant and animal kingdoms,
they deserve to be studied separately as well, and the study of fungi is called mycology.
Although some think of fungi as little more than a pizza topping, many species of fungi
are some of Earth’s most important organisms.
In September 1928, microbiologist Alexander Fleming was looking through his Petri dishes,
which housed the pathogenic bacterial genus, Staphylococcus.
He noticed something unusual about one of the dishes.
It was full of bacterial colonies, apart from a single spot around a growing colony of mold,
which is a type of fungus.
Fleming found that this mold was stopping the growth of bacteria through the production
of a chemical that turned out to be the first antibiotic ever discovered, penicillin.
Through the continuing effort of scientists since then, penicillin and other antibiotics
have saved hundreds of millions of lives.
But it doesn’t end with antibiotics.
Though we more commonly think about mushrooms and molds, unicellular fungi known as yeasts
have historically allowed for the production of food and drink like wine, beer, cheese,
chocolate, and bread.
Many mushrooms themselves such as morels and chanterelles are highly sought after gourmet
ingredients.
Other wild mushrooms like turkey tail and lion’s mane have the potential for medicinal
value.
Fungi provide nutrients to forests and crops.
They produce chemicals required for the production of commodities ranging from paper to laundry
detergent.
And most notably, they are skillful decomposers, so without them, we would be buried in organic
matter and debris.
Undoubtedly, fungi are an indispensable component of the circle of life.
Recently, scientists have even started to employ fungal abilities to decompose pollutants
in the soil through a process called bioremediation.
Fungi therefore have fantastic potential to aid humanity.
But no matter what we can say about the utility of fungi, there is one thing that remains
the most interesting aspect of this kingdom.
Fungi produce countless magnificently unique mushrooms.
For just a taste of what we will cover in this series, consider the jack-o-lantern fungus,
or Omphalotus illudens.
It already looks like an interesting bright orange mushroom, but when placed in the dark,
it glows an eerie greenish-white color.
Here is the bleeding tooth fungus or Hydnellum peckii.
It secretes a bright red fluid which covers the mushroom in small droplets.
Throughout this series, we will discover many more exciting mushrooms like these.
Then we will discuss microscopic fungi, fungal diseases, as well as miscellaneous applications
of fungi.
The goal of this series is to not only provide an educational resource regarding fungi, but
also to motivate viewers to pursue mycology on their own.
Anyone can study mushrooms, and citizen science programs have the potential to progress the
understanding of mushroom biology far beyond its current state.
By learning about mycology, you may find that your prior self was suffering from mushroom
blindness, remaining oblivious to their existence in your immediate vicinity.
But hopefully this will soon change, as you become more aware of these fascinating organisms,
and by extension, the natural world.
So let’s begin studying mycology.