Mushrooms: The Third Natural Kingdom

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Video: Mushrooms: The Third Natural Kingdom

Video: Mushrooms: The Third Natural Kingdom
Video: Fungus: The 3rd kingdom 2024, March
Mushrooms: The Third Natural Kingdom
Mushrooms: The Third Natural Kingdom
Anonim
Mushrooms: The third natural kingdom - mushroom, mushrooms
Mushrooms: The third natural kingdom - mushroom, mushrooms

We usually don't think about how complex some of the simple things that surround us are. In childhood, having got to the first lessons of natural science, we are surprised to learn that mushrooms are, it turns out, not plants, but a separate type of organisms. As varied as plants or animals, and terribly weird as well. The more we study mushrooms, the more surprises they present. Who knows what they are capable of?

Indomitable invaders

If you pull out a flower from the ground, then it will be entirely in your hand - here is the stem, here is the root, everything is relatively simple. If you pull out a mushroom, then you can be sure - its mycelium, scientifically "mycelium", which often stretches for many kilometers, will remain underground.

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The fungus deceives us into thinking that it consists only of a cap and a leg, in fact, its real body is the mycelium, with which it feeds and develops. There is something extraterrestrial in this soil-entrenched organism, releasing outgrowths that are attractive to animals.

And people were deceived for a long time. Although the theory that mushrooms are very different from plants was expressed back in 1831, they were finally isolated into a separate kingdom already in 1970. Think: mankind by this time managed to go into space and even fly to the moon, but still believed that mushrooms and flowers are one and the same.

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At the same time, when it comes to mushrooms, we usually imagine something traditional - porcini mushroom, champignon or even fly agaric. In fact, this is only a tiny fraction of the representatives of the unimaginably gigantic mushroom kingdom.

Scientists have calculated that there are hundreds of thousands of species of mushrooms on Earth! According to some estimates - up to one and a half million. They grow not only in the forest under the pine, but also on the pine itself, underground, in the water, in the air, in our bodies!

Mushrooms take over living space, occupying the territory of other kingdoms. They absorb, recycle, decompose, multiply … What, it became scary? Nature generally tends to be intimidating if you look at it better. Fortunately for people, and indeed for all animals, mushrooms are also of great benefit.

A cure for the planet

Of course, mushrooms are edible. It is difficult to be brought into a separate kingdom without at least something edible in you. And this is not only about the forest dwellers we are accustomed to. Yeast is also a mushroom. Unicellular, devoid of mycelium, but mushrooms.

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They and their related species actively participate in fermentation, with the help of which a variety of products are produced - from beer to yoghurts. Need penicillin - the world's first antibiotic? Seek help from the penicillium mushroom, from which a wonderful drug is isolated. And in general, mushrooms contain no less healing substances than plants. The main thing is to look well.

But food and medicine are not the main thing that mushrooms help the planet. Mushrooms are decomposers - cleaners, roughly speaking. They perform one of the most important functions in the cycle of substances: they destroy the dead remains of living organisms, turning them into simple compounds. Without fungi and bacteria, fallen leaves would not disappear from the earth, animal corpses would not decompose, and all life as we know it would very soon come to a standstill.

The mushrooms themselves receive for their work some of the organic substances that allow them to exist. So you shouldn't run into the nearest forest and warmly thank some boletus - his hard work is already paid in full.

Gateway to the fairy world

Mushrooms have invariably appeared in the tales and legends of almost every nation in the world. Edibles in the Slavic countries were considered semi-intelligent, able to "hide" from a careless mushroom picker and seem worthy. But there were also the opposite cases - “covering” a rich mushroom meadow, evil entities could lure people deeper into the forest in order to destroy them later. Traditionally vedalleshi mushrooms - usually it was possible to negotiate with him with the help of gifts and respectful attitude.

The so-called witch's circles - rings on the ground formed by mushrooms were considered an extremely unkind omen. The alarm began to sound if there were no trees in the ring, and even grass did not grow. Such a place was declared damned, it was bypassed. At the same time, beliefs say that mushroom circles could expand, reaching tens of meters in a radius.

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Inside the ring, witches, fairies or other forest spirits danced in circles at night. A person who accidentally passed by was persuaded to join the dance, and this was a death sentence. If you refuse, they will be enchanted, if you agree, you will dance until you collapse dead.

Modern science claims that there is nothing magic in witch circles - it is just that the mycelium sometimes forms a regular ring, fixating itself on itself. But maybe it’s the fairies who make her grow like that?

From poison to visions

Even if we limit ourselves to the "traditional" forest mushrooms, there are many amazing species among them. With edibles, everything is more or less clear, but sometimes no, no, yes, you get poisoned even by the most harmless wave. The problem lies in the fact that the structure of the mushroom resembles a sponge and sometimes absorbs the poison from the side.

Poisonous mushrooms not only grow in the same quantities as edible ones, but also disguise themselves as such. Having eaten a gall mushroom by mistake, you will only earn indigestion, but the pale toadstool can reliably send even an adult and healthy person to the next world.

Of particular interest to mankind were not unambiguously poisonous substances, but those with hallucinogenic properties. As early as 9,000 years ago, people used psychoactive mushrooms - evidence of this can be found in rock paintings in many African countries. The Viking berserkers prized dried fly agarics, which made them furious in battle.

The shamans of the northern peoples living in Kamchatka and Chukotka also used fly agarics in order to see other worlds. These mushrooms were not only fried, boiled and dried, but even fed to reindeer, whose meat acquired hallucinogenic properties. Absolutely not connected with either the Vikings or the Chukchi, the Indians of South America also adored the fly agaric.

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The Maya created figurines in the shape of a mushroom with a human face, the Aztecs called egote-onanácatl - "the body of a god." Only a select few could eat it - the highest stratum of priests and nobility. Of course, the long-term use of poisonous mushrooms cannot end in anything good. But the Aztec priest or Chukchi shaman, convinced that with the help of this poison they communicate with spirits, had a different opinion.

Zombie monsters

Among the mushrooms there are representatives that make a person break out in cold sweat and without mentioning witches. For example, the parasitic fungus cordyceps lopsided with the help of spores enters the body of ants and turns them into ant zombies.

Zombies climb higher, hang over the anthill, and the mushroom drops new spores down. This image is so amazing that on its basis the popular Last Of Us game was created, where a mutated mushroom reproduces with the help of people.

Fantasy, but not so far from the truth. Cordyceps is not alone - there are about 400 species of it! It devours caterpillars, flies, worms and arthropods with terrifying efficiency. And with all this, in folk medicine, this mushroom monster is considered a powerful aphrodisiac and rejuvenating agent!

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In China, it is sometimes served on the table along with the dead bodies of insects through which it sprouted. Biologists, by the way, say that it is in vain - Cordyceps does not contain any useful substances. But it is difficult to convince the popular rumor.

Mushrooms are ubiquitous. Microscopic, they settle on our skin, causing disease, or aid in digestion. We eat them in different forms, sometimes at the risk of poisoning. Some of them are straightforward, others are strange on the verge of insanity. But most importantly, they are ubiquitous. You shouldn't wage a principled war with mushrooms - mushrooms have already won it. But there is nothing wrong with that.

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