Mycology has impacted your life, I guarantee it. Whether it was that penicillin you took to get better or those cultivated mushrooms you ate for dinner yesterday, you have mycology to thank. Mycologists are scientists who dedicate their careers to all things fungi. It may be surprising to hear that mycology is not a booming discipline. Most universities don’t offer programs in mycology and this doesn’t seem to be changing. Fungal pathogens infect over 1 billion people worldwide. They also destroy one-third of global food production! Why aren’t there more mycologists working on this stuff? On the other hand, humans benefit from many species of fungi, including those we eat and use as medicine.”
No, I have not taken up the study of mushrooms. That sounds too much like science, and my brain explodes when confronted with science. But mushrooms are pretty dang cool. On one recent walk through the woods I couldn’t believe how many different types of mushrooms popped their little heads above the surface.
Aren’t they beautiful? They look like porcelain.Taxonomists often use the ‘gills’ of a mushroom to identify the species of fungus. But I’m not a taxonomist so you’re on your own.So determined as they press their heads up through the ground.
Not always pretty, from above or from below
So varied in color, texture, posture, and design.Newborn?Some are more social than others and like to sprout together.Find the mushroom. They can be downright elusive and like so much of nature, they adapt to their environment and use camouflage as well as lizards do.A chain of mushrooms, like a pearl necklace.
All these shrooms were found within about a half mile of each other.