Fantastic Fungal Phenomena

You have probably seen many fungi, but taken little notice of them. Even though they are small, and are often disregarded, fungi perform great actions to help the world. In fact, life on Earth would not exist if it weren't for fungi! So what is it that fungi do that is so helpful? They decompose dead matter and convert it into food(for them). If fungi didn't exist, our planet would be heaped with dead plant matter so heavily that it would crowd out life. However, some fungi are indeed harmful and can destroy crops, but there are many helpful ones, too. Not only do fungi break down dead matter, some species have symbiotic relationships with plants. 

Take a close look at the diagram above. Also, the stem can be known as a stype. You probably noticed the ring(also known as annulus) on this mushroom. In fact, not all mushrooms possess this feature. The same occurs with scales, the volva, and veil.

Not all mushrooms have caps and gills. Some types of mushrooms have pores. The major types of mushrooms are boletes, polypores, and gilled mushrooms. Boletes have a regular mushroom shape, but in the place of gills, they have pores. Polypores are shelf-like fungi often seen on trees or logs. As their name suggests, they too have pores. You know what gilled mushrooms look like, so I am not explaining about them. 

A close-up of pores on a bolete!
There are some basic genuses of fungi that you should learn to recognize.
Lactarius~~ These mushrooms ooze a milky colored fluid from their gills and almost always have funnel-shaped caps.

Amanita~~ These fungi often have a volva and scales on their caps. Some have an annulus. Amanita mushrooms are poisonous, and some of the most deadly mushrooms come from this genus so do not identify these by taste! NEVER eat wild mushrooms, no matter how sure you are if a certain species is edible. You never know. Don't worry, though, the mushrooms you buy from the supermarket are perfectly safe, and are grown on farms.

Calvatia~~ The overwhelming majority of puffballs are found in this genus. Have you ever stomped on a puffball? If you have, you probably saw something smoky spewing out of the top if you stomped on it at the right time. This is not smoke, but spores, for puffballs are just balls with spores inside them. If you cut open a puffball in its early phase, you may see just a dense brown or white clump. Those are spores, but they haven't fully developed yet.

Ramaria~~ This is the genus that most species of coral fungus are in. Coral fungus is in a bush shape, or sea-coral, which is what it was named after. 

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Coral fungus
Some people are extremely lucky and see spectacular pink specimens like this. However, most coral fungi are white, but in this exact same shape as in the picture. Bushels are usually small.
How do you find an amazing fungus? First of all, you need to look for it! You can go to a local park, garden, nature preserve, or even your backyard! If you look up on the internet about nature preserves near where you live, you shall definitely see something. Tips to successful mushrooming:
1. Walk slowly, and probe around in the leaf litter! Remember, mushrooms love shade, so choose your trail wisely.
2. You also need to chose the right time. For the best results, go mushrooming after a rain( but not directly after, maybe a day or two after). The temperature should be above 50 degrees F.

Now you know how to find mushrooms, but you are probably wondering what to take.  Here is one piece of advice: Don't take a 7-pound field guide with you!

Here is what SHOULD be in your backpack:
1. Take some plastic bags with you, along with soft forceps. Just remember not to leave your fungi in the bag, because I once did that, forgot about it, and the next month, I found a bag of brown liquid in its place!
2. Take a small pocket-size field guide with you.
3. A camera is essential!
4. You might want to take a basket with you for collecting larger specimens.
5. Also, don't forget a little food and water, if you are hiking for a long time. 

You can make this yourself! Here is what you do:
1. Pick a mushroom.
2. Cut off its stem.
3. Place the stem-less cap gills-down on a sheet of either pink or blue construction paper.
4. Cover it with a cup or bowl if you want.
5. Wait for a day, remove the cup, and peer under the cap. If it worked, you might have something like what's in the picture above!
5. Preserve it just by covering the print in packaging tape!

You probably notice that the substance your print is made of rubs onto your fingers. What is this substance? They are the mushroom's spores, or what all mushrooms grow from! These are stored in the mushroom's gills, which is why I told you to put the mushroom gills-down.

This is what your spore print should look like before the mushroom is taken off.

If you viewed the fungus photo gallery, you probably saw a picture of a bird's nest fungus. Did you wonder what the 'eggs' are? They are actually packets of spores, and the spores are released in the same manner as puffballs. There are a few major types of bird's nest fungus. 

Cyathus

Nidula

Crucibulum