Post by daveyjones on Oct 17, 2015 21:44:17 GMT
To provide inspiration for the fungal inclined here is an overview of some classic and exotic mushrooms.
First some basics info:
Mushrooms are not an organism, they are merely the fruit of the organism, the rest of which lives underground.
The underground portion is a network of root like structures that combined resemble a neural network.
Mushrooms consist for about 90% of water and mammals are genetically closer to fungi then they are to plants.
The growth cycle begins with 'spores'. these are the 'seed' of the mushroom and are microscopically small:
you can only see them as they accumulate. in this picture dark purple spores have settled on some of the caps:
So these spores germinate and start forming the mycelium. once the network is big enough and the right conditions
are met the mycelium will start forming little white balls called hyphal knots:
These will grow out to become pins:
that will in turn grow up to become mushrooms:
Spores are dropped from the gills of the mushroom, these exist underneath the cap:
If you look at the 2nd picture again you can see how the spores have landed on top of the caps.
this is because the spores are extremely buoyant and evaporating moisture is creating up drafts
that carry the spores all over the place.
Mushrooms can be found in all kinds of locales, but they are limited to what they eat.
Some mushrooms feed on decomposing wood, others grow on the dung of animals
and yet others grow in symbiosis with another organism, usually a tree.
there are also a few parasitic species that will actually kill trees in order to eat them,
and another one that actually infects insects and fruits right from their dead bodies:
First some basics info:
Mushrooms are not an organism, they are merely the fruit of the organism, the rest of which lives underground.
The underground portion is a network of root like structures that combined resemble a neural network.
Mushrooms consist for about 90% of water and mammals are genetically closer to fungi then they are to plants.
The growth cycle begins with 'spores'. these are the 'seed' of the mushroom and are microscopically small:
you can only see them as they accumulate. in this picture dark purple spores have settled on some of the caps:
So these spores germinate and start forming the mycelium. once the network is big enough and the right conditions
are met the mycelium will start forming little white balls called hyphal knots:
These will grow out to become pins:
that will in turn grow up to become mushrooms:
Spores are dropped from the gills of the mushroom, these exist underneath the cap:
If you look at the 2nd picture again you can see how the spores have landed on top of the caps.
this is because the spores are extremely buoyant and evaporating moisture is creating up drafts
that carry the spores all over the place.
Mushrooms can be found in all kinds of locales, but they are limited to what they eat.
Some mushrooms feed on decomposing wood, others grow on the dung of animals
and yet others grow in symbiosis with another organism, usually a tree.
there are also a few parasitic species that will actually kill trees in order to eat them,
and another one that actually infects insects and fruits right from their dead bodies:
Cheers!