Autumn is associated with mushrooms and toadstools of
all kinds. In fact these can be found throughout the year. Both are
manifestations of fungi that are otherwise invisible growing underground or in
wood or other decaying material. Most fungi are beneficial however and provide
plants with vital nutrients and water as mycorrhiza. Some of these also show
themselves as toadstools, as these are the reproductive bodies of these
organisms. Fungi should not be called plants, as they are a separate branch of
the tree of life more closely related to animals than plants!
Mushrooms can be found everywhere, not merely in
woodlands. Some grow on the woodland edge and in parks (left) others pop up in
a carpet of moss in the heart of the forest with little light (middle). The
name mushroom is said to be derived from the French word for moss. Toadstools
also grow in meadows and grassland, even in lawns.
These tiny toadstools grow from a mossy stump of a
dead tree (left). These are from a type that lives of dead wood. Other
mushrooms grow amongst the grass. Here (middle) some emerging ones, that look
almost hairy. Another cluster mushroom is this yellow-capped saprophyte that
grows amongst the leaf litter of oaks on the woodland floor. These types are
important for recycling nutrients.
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