Fungi Friday 🍄

Happy Fungi Friday! 🍄

One thing I’ve noticed recently is the creeping in of environmentally harmful gardening practice on private land. I say private land because in the UK a lot of good things are happening in public parks as public interest in ecology has begun to influence local politicians and public authorities. Also – science.

A good example of the private issue was seeing the plastic stuff put down here a few weeks ago:

Putting this stuff around trees is not a good idea. The roots of an oak need physical connections with fungi and the other micro-organisms that live in soil. Plastic is also a serious pollutant, with much of it ending up in the food chain, and therefore our bodies. The impact of this is not yet fully understood, but it’s not something we need in our own microbiomes.

Wildflowers used to grow here but now there is one raised bed with some pretty dull plants (for this climate), like the red palm seen here.

But nearby, it was heartening to see some glistening inkcaps pushing through this horrible plastic membrane.

Did the mushrooms break through the membrane? Who knows. But fungi do have immense weight-lifting powers.

This photo is by Tomasz Przechlewski and shows the pavement mushroom (Agaricus bitorquis). It’s able to push up through paving slabs and in some situations may be able to raise them, depending on the circumstances.

All this should be understood in the context that fungi rule the world and, along with our plastic waste, we will not outlive them.

Thanks for reading.