Literature Project #69 Stefan Buczacki 'Collins Fungi Guide'
69 days into my year long daily Literature project going rather technical today. I find Fungi fascinating organisms, this is a Bracket Fungi.
"Fungi are also uniquely distinct in relation to their mode of nutrition. Plants photosynthesise, a process in which solar energy is absorbed by green chlorophyll and used to bring about the formation of nutrient substances from the raw materials of atmospheric carbon dioxide and water. No fungus can photosynthesise, and even the few species that sometimes display a green fruit body colouration or green spores do not contain chlorophyll. Fungi also have a mode of nutrition different from animals in that while animals eat, digest and then absorb the digested matter internally, fungi secrete enzymes externally from their hyphae into the environment where organic matter is broken down and then absorb the resulting chemicals from there. Like animals therefore, fungi are dependent for their nutrient source on other organisms, either living or dead. And this dictates where they grow: typically on soil, using humus and plant remains for nutrition; directly on wood or other plant matter; or sometimes parasitically on still living plants."
Good quote! I have a friend who is passionate about fungi and often forages for the edible ones for lunch.
When I was helping with a school trip with my son's class on a forest walk once, I told my group of children "You can eat ALL fungi......" as the teachers around me immediately did a sharp intake of breath... "but some of them only once."
The children thought for a second, went wide eyed and in my group none of them picked anything they shouldn't all day!
When I was helping with a school trip with my son's class on a forest walk once, I told my group of children "You can eat ALL fungi......" as the teachers around me immediately did a sharp intake of breath... "but some of them only once."
The children thought for a second, went wide eyed and in my group none of them picked anything they shouldn't all day!