The Living Landscape: Mysterious mushrooms
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” – Rachel Carson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After a fall or winter storm it's safe to say that mushroom bodies or fungi of all description begin to push up from the land down under.
All that is needed is adequate moisture and then some life-giving sunshine, and viola! They appear as if by magic.
Since mushroom species typically thrive in certain habitats you are likely to see boletes, russulas and chanterelles under or near oak species, while oyster mushrooms prefer maples and alders near creeks.
While walking about an environment which includes mushrooms maturing under madrones and manzanitas, you are witnessing a mycorrhizal fungi that forms a unique partnership with those particular trees.
Some fungi form only under Douglas firs, while many other species are not so fickle and are found in a myriad of other places.
Although we can't always see them, mushrooms are present at all times, sheltered under the soil, or concealed beneath a tree's bark. Some, like bracket fungi are highly visible, and form ladders, ascending a dead tree trunk, while others play hide-and-seek with leaf matter in the woods.
Mushrooms are one of nature's necessary scavengers, breaking down and decomposing fallen leaf, tree and other forest matter, and thrive with their symbiotic relationships to plants and other mushrooms.
Mushrooms quietly go about the business of breaking down matter then recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.
According to Dr. Dennis E. Desjardin, author and professor of mycology at San Francisco State University as well as scientific advisor to the Mycological Society of San Francisco, "In technical terms, mushrooms are the charismatic sexual reproductive structures of fungal individuals whose main body (fine, cobweb-like filaments called hyphae) is well hidden in the soil or amongst leaves and rotting wood. The primary role of the mushroom is reproduction- abundant spore production and effective spore dispersal- and its shape reflects this function."
Fungi are veritable living paradoxes, containing the strength to push up through the soil, while at the same time being comprised of such delicate tissue. Some fungi, like the puffball, are beautifully spherical, white wonders, while others, like Western jack-o’-lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus olivascens) are bioluminescent and glow in the dark!
Mushrooms vary in structure: Most have gills – those delicate, plate-like structures that fan out beneath a mushroom like pages in a book.
Gilled mushrooms are usually described within five main groups that include tiny gilled mushrooms ( less than two inches in height), veiled fungi with free gills (their gills are not attached to the stalk, or a very small portion of the gills are attached), veiled mushrooms (those which grow with attached gills), fungi with free gills ( they do not contain any attached gills, instead the gills are all free from the stalk), and mushrooms with attached gills (the gills grow to the stalks).
Mushrooms are comprised of roots, a base, stalk, gills, ring and a cap.
Given that mushroom identification is challenging, it is best to leave it to the experts to determine the edible varieties.
The study of mushrooms, or mycology, is growing quickly with the advent of DNA sequencing data, and the experts are adding newfound information to mushroom field guides annually.
The edible mushrooms that you often find in the supermarket are quite nutritious, containing protein, carbs, both B and D vitamins, as well as phosphorus and zinc.
Culturally, the intense knowledge of edible and poisonous mushrooms has been studied, and has been important throughout history: for food, medicine and spiritual purposes.
The silent, strong and mysterious mushroom has also been used for fire-building tinder, decoration and in the production of leather-like clothing.
Mushrooms are used to create dyes as well. For example puffballs create a red dye, meadow mushrooms are known for their yellow-green dyes, while the chanterelle mushroom creates a yellow dye.
Kathleen Scavone is a writer and retired teacher. She lives in Middletown, Calif.