Neither plant nor animal, the millions of fungi species found across the world make up an entire kingdom of their own. From between your toes to the tip of your tongue, the driest deserts to the depths of the sea, they are also found everywhere!
We see more fungi in the countryside during the autumn months as the damp warm weather provides the ideal conditions for their growth. Coming in all shapes, colours and sizes, the 15,000 species found in the UK have some weird and wonderful names - from chicken of the woods, to dead man’s fingers!
The classic red and white fairytale toadstool often found in children’s books is called fly agaric owing to its use as an insecticide in Medieval times, whilst the stinkhorn fugus – well you can probably guess!
The world of fungi is hugely complex and still not fully understood by scientists, but we do know that they are an important part of the whole web of life because of their ability to digest organic material such as dead plants and animals. Many fungi have a special or ‘symbiotic’ relationship with other creatures, which can’t live without them. It is now believed that plants could not exist without fungi, so important is their relationship!
The mushrooms and toadstools you see during autumn are actually just a small part of a fungi and are rather like a fruit. Like seeds in a plant or vegetable, they are full of tiny spores that allow the fungi to reproduce. Underground hides the rest of the fungi, know as the 'mycelium', a mass of hundreds or even thousands of fine stringy threads that can spread over long distances. Forget the blue whale, a fungus species in America with a mycelium network measuring 2.4 miles is thought to be the largest living creature on Earth!
