The shape of things to come
Mushrooms, molds, yeasts, and ilk belong to their own kingdom, Fungi. They’re more closely related to you and I than they are to plants. They’re critical to ecosystem function but have a bit of a PR problem. You’ve probably had both friendly and hostile relations with them. They experience the world quite differently than we do, and they live their lives accordingly.
There’s just something compelling about fungi. They’re not exactly beautiful. They’re somehow both familiar and strange at the same time. And they have stories to tell…
p.s. The egg? It’s the primordium of a stinkhorn, Dictyophora duplicata. Photo by me, Kathie Hodge. For the whole sordid story, see this entry.
[…] The mushroom begins as an egg-like structure with an outer covering (peridium) and layered interior that may be multi-colored and gelatinous (a stinkhorn egg is shown on the first page of this blog). The stipe bursts out of the peridium and “mushrooms” to full size in just a few hours (see our amazing time lapse of stinkhorn emergence). Many will not find this malodorous mushroom appetizing, though the immature egg form is a delicacy in some parts of the world. A fun demonstration can be conducted by digging a stinkhorn egg out of the ground and bringing it home. Keep it moist, place it in a jar and watch it become a fully-grown mushroom over a day or so! […]