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Compiled by Keith Hunt The following is taken from "ABC's of Nature - a family answer book" by Reader's Digest 1984. All capital words are mine throughout for emphasis. OF MOLDS AND MUSHROOMS What are fungi? Like algae, fungi are simple non-flowering plants that lack true leaves, stems, and roots. But unlike algae, they contain no chlorophyll and so are unable to manufacture their own food. Mushrooms are the best known of more than 75,000 species of plants classed as fungi. The one-celled yeasts that cause bread to rise and juices to ferment are also fungi, as is the mildew that may form on a pair of shoes, in a damp closet. Still other types of fungi cause the various rust and smut diseases that afflict plants, and the ringworm and athlete's foot infections of human skin. The mold that appears on decaying fruit and the fuzz mold that sometimes forms on bread are fungi, too...... HOW DO MUSHROOMS AND OTHER FUNGI REPRODUCE? If you squeeze a ripe puffball, a cloud of dark 'dust' spurts out. And if you tap a mushroom cap over a piece of white paper, the paper is peppered with similar specks. These are SPORES, the reproductive units of fungi. Occurring in a variety of shapes and colors, they all have the ability to develop into new plants. Fungi generally reproduce huge numbers of spores. A single mushroom may release BILLIONS of them. Some spores are shot from the parent plant. Others are scattered by falling raindrops. But MOST are spread by the WIND. Tiny and lightweight, they can ride through the air for thousands of miles. So many eventually land and germinate that fungi are among the most widespread of all living things. CAN MUSHROOMS GROW UP OVERNIGHT? A mushroom is only the fruiting, or reproductive, structure of a much larger fungus body that grows out of sight in rotting logs, rich humus, and similar dark, damp places. The hidden part of the plant consists of a multitude of minute, threadlike filaments, called hyphae, that form a tangled mass known as the mycelium In many of the familiar mushrooms, the fruiting bodies are fleshly and umbrella- shaped. Warm, damp weather triggers their sudden appearance. First, to show up is a small round 'button' composed of densely packed hyphae. Soon the outer covering ruptures, the stem elongates and the cap enlarges to its full size. The entire process can indeed happen overnight. ARE ALL FUNGI SHAPED LIKE MUSHROOMS? The fruiting bodies of fungi come in a seemingly endless array of forms and colors.....many other fungi do NOT resemble mushrooms at all......One kind of fungus looks like a head of cauliflower, and others resemble upright branching clumps of coral. Still others protrude like shelves from three trunks, and other kinds look like glistening blobs of jelly...... WHAT DO FUNGI FEED ON? Unable to produce their own food, all fungi take their nourishment from the bodies of other plants and animals, both living and dead. Thousands of plant diseases are caused by parasitic fungi that attack living plants. One kind of fungus is even PREDATORY. It snares microscopic nematode worms in nooselike growths on its hyphae, then absorbs their substance. Other kinds of fungi live in close association with the roots of pines, orchids, and other types of plants......In this case the relationship is mutually beneficial, not parasitic; the fungi supply the roots with water and nutrients and in return receive essential food. But the MAJORITY of fungi live on the REMAINS of plants and animals. their hyphae permeate the DEAD tissue, hastening its breakdown and decay. Fungi, in fact are invaluable for their role in decomposing organic matter. ARE TOADSTOOLS A TYPE OF MUSHROOM? In common usage, mushroomlike fungi that are poisonous or inedible are often called toadstools. The word originated in times gone by, when toads were considered vile, poisonous creatures, and the fungi found with them in damp, dark places were presumed to be poisonous too. But while the word is certainly picturesque, it is not used by scientists who study fungi....... HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A MUSHROOM IS POISONOUS? ......Some of the TOXIC kinds cause only mild discomfort; others are LETHAL. Some kinds may be poisonous to one person and not to others, or they may have ill effect only if eaten in large quantities. And some are HALLUCINOGENS, causing severe distortions of perception. Unfortunately, there is NO EASY WAY to tell if a mushroom is POISONOUS. Some of the edible kinds are quite easily recognized, BUT OTHERS have LETHAL LOOK-ALIKES that can only be distinguished by EXPERTS with MANY YEARS of experience...... WHERE DO TRUFFLES COME FROM? .......Found mainly in western Europe, they grow in open woodlands near the roots of trees. The fruiting bodies, ranging from white to greyish brown to nearly black, are fragrant, fleshy structures, usually about the size of golf balls. Truffles are difficult to find because, unlike typical mushrooms, they develop UNDERGROUND. Truffle hunters use specially trained dogs and pigs to find the flavourful morsels.....Pigs, in fact, can scent a truffle 20 feet away..... WHAT ARE SLIME MOLDS? .....500 or so species of fungi known as SLIME MOLDS; for much of their lives they act more like animals than plants. In their active phase, slim molds are jellylike blobs, sometimes brightly colored and often several inches in diameter, that flourish among decaying vegetation. Creeping along like giant amoebas, they ingest microorganisms and bits of rotting plant debris. Eventually, however, the slime molds make their way to higher, drier places, and the masses of protoplasm are gradually transformed into fruiting bodies. These stalked, often ornately formed structures then release myriads of SPORES that germinate and start the cycle anew. LICHENS: TWO PLANTS IN ONE What are lichens ......For, whatever their shapes and sizes, each and every type of lichen is actually composed of TWO separate plants - a FUNGUS and an ALGAE - living in close association. The BULK of the lichen is made up of a meshwork of minute, threadlike FUNGAL filaments; embedded within this network are multitudes of microscopic one-celled ALGAE. Both members benefit from this partnership. The fungus absorbs the moisture that the algae need, and may supply them with essential minerals. It supplies the algae with a living place; anchored to the surface by rootlike structures, the fungus also furnishes stability. The algae are the food-producing members of the partnership, and supply the fungus with carbohydrates. Lichens, in fact, ate notable examples of mutualism - a case of two different organisms living together to the advantage of both. HOW DO LICHENS SPREAD? .....The chanciest method is by producing SPORES. The fungi in lichens form reproductive organs, often brilliantly colored, that release countless microscopic spores. If the spores alight in the right sort of habitat, they develop into tiny fungus plants. And if, as they grow, they happen to come into contact with exactly the right species of algae, the two develop into a lichen. But often than not, the fungus fails to find the right partner and dies. Other methods leave less to chance. Lichens become brittle when they dry out, and fragments tend to break off and blow away. If the pieces land in moist places, they revive, take hold, and continue to grow. Lichens also produce little clumps of fungal threads and algal cells on their upper surface. Broken off and carried away by wind or water, these tiny structures develop into mature lichens. WHERE DO LICHENS LIVE? Lichens flourish in all sorts of habitats, from dripping rain forests to searing deserts. Some have been found high above the timberline in the Himalayas, others within 250 of the South Pole. Lichens grow on rocks, trees, and bare soil as well as on gravestones, buildings, and even sunbleached bones and the backs of certain weevils. Lichens, in fact, frequently thrive where no other plants can survive.....By colonizing such inhospitable habitats as bare rock, they play a part in preparing the way for other plants. They help break down the rock and so create pockets of soil, which furnish a suitable environment where spores and seeds of other plants can gain a foothold. HOW DO LICHENS SURVIVE? The lichens that live in Antarctica regularly endure temperatures that fall far below 0 degrees F. Desert species live on rocks that sometimes become literally too hot to touch. In one experiment, some lichens were baked for SEVEN hours at a temperature of 434 degrees F - more than twice the temperature of boiling water. and they SURVIVED. (Yeast fungi used sometimes to raise bread, cannot live in heat of 140 degrees F or above - Keith Hunt). One secret of lichens' success however, is that they normally avoid such extremes by drying out and becoming DORMANT. When favorable conditions return, they soak up moisture and begin to grow actively again. Yet even the hardy lichen cannot survive everywhere. Despite their adaptability, MOST species are extremely sensitive to air pollution. As a result, large cities and industrial areas are among the few places where lichens are generally not found. But there are exceptions even to this rule; in Great Britain one kind of lichen is actually increasing in abundance in areas of severe air pollution. ARE ALL LICHENS ALIKE? Scientists recognize some 15,000 species of lichens, each consisting of one particular kind of fungus combined with a specific algal partner.This bewildering array is usually divided into three groups, each determined by the way the plants grow. One group, the crustose lichens, includes all the species that grow as thin, flat crusts on rocks and other surfaces.....The foliose lichen look more or less like leaves that have been carelessly pasted down and are loose at the edges.....The third group is called fruticose lichens, from the Latin word "shrub." Some of these, such as reindeer moss, grow on the ground in upright branching tufts. Others, such as the beard lichen, hand like tassels from the limbs of trees. Some of the hanging types are nine feet long. HOW LONG DO LICHENS LIVE? The longevity of lichens varies, depending on the species and many other facts. In temperate regions, a full-grown lichen is likely to be as much as 50 years old. But specimens of some rock-encrusting types in the Arctic may be up to 4,500 years old. Long life spans and slow growth rates often go together, and this is certainly true of lichens. The fastest growing types expand by less than half an inch per year, and the crustlike types grow even slower. Some of the Arctic species need hundreds of years to grow a single inch..... ARE LICHENS USEFUL? Lichens, like every living thing, have a role in the general scheme of nature. They not only help form soil from solid rock but also serve as food for animals from reindeer to snails and tiny insects. Man, too, has found many special uses for lichens....traditional lichens product is DYE, including scarlets, purples, blues, browns, and yellows. Scottish craftsmen still use lichen dyes to color their famous Harris tweeds. Lichens are also the source of litmus, the dye used in chemical tests for acidity. Although most lichens are INEDIBLE, the leaflike species called Iceland moss yields a starchy food that poor people used to eat...... END QUOTES All very interesting and informative on some of the vegetation of this world. All are part of the whole, all have a part to play in the whole scheme of nature as was said above. But as like the animal kingdom, the bird kingdom, the insect kingdom, and the world of that which is in the waters, only PARTS of the vegetation world was created by God for human consumption as food to nourish and build the cells of the human body. The vegetation law that we discussed in earlier studies underlines that we as human beings should NOT use algae, molds, fungi, lichens, for and as a food supply in our regular diet. God has given us more than enough green seedbearing vegetation to amply supply our bodies with nutrition for cell reproduction in a healthy manner. But mankind seems to want to eat just about anything that will not kill him on the spot. At the same time TV news and documentary shows CRY OUT to us that we are LESS healthy and more obese (the stats for the USA on obesity in children run this way: 1980 5% of children obese, 2003 it is 15.5% - three times as many, then they show you what children are eating on a regular basis, and you understand why they are three times more obese than in 1980) than ever before. If you have not done so already, it really is time to do a stock taking inventory of what YOU, and/or your family is consuming as food. Our physical bodies are the Temple of God, we should care about how we look after that Temple. ............................... TO BE CONTINUED Compiled and written July 2003 |