"If you look on the fungal genome as being soldier candidates protecting the U.S. as our host defense, not only for the ecosystem but for our population... we should be saving our old-growth forests as a matter of national defense."-Paul Stamets
I live in the rainforest, which is the land of the mushroom. Every year the kids collect the chanterelles by the basketful from their secret spots in the forest. Trained dogs with their people search for prized truffles. Felt clad forest gnome types with long hair and gum boots trudge through swamp and field wild crafting for a living here.
Researchers also roam these forests. The most amazing one I know of is Paul Stamets, whose work ranges all over the map, from medicine to bioremediation.
Some of the largest life forms known on Earth are the mushrooms, some which span miles. The main part of their form is underground, so we see only the fruiting body up top. Their structure resembles your brain's neuron structure, and also that of galactic distribution of stars. Mushroom spores can withstand the conditions of outer space, so perhaps could be a mechanism of life being seeded on a planet.
Paul Stamets suggests that the mycelium network in the soil may be the brain of the forest, allocating nutrients and water selectively to various trees and plants to keep the ecosystem in balance. That is just one of the things fungi do that just may be a key to saving the world, and this is no exaggeration! His research is mind blowing.
I collect only the pictures of the mushrooms I find on my morning walks. Their shapes and lines fascinate me, and often end up in my art.
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