Long before the trees captured Earth, our planet was covered with giant mushrooms 7.3 meters high and 0.9 meters wide: these giant spiers dotted the ancient landscape. Now such whoppers in nature are no longer found, but there are still many secrets associated with them.
For example, no one knows exactly how many species of mushrooms grow in nature. There are about 10,000 species described, but everyone agrees that there are uncharted species. We decided to delve deeper into this “mushroom” topic and found the 10 most interesting facts about mushrooms for students in grade 7.
10. Amanita and pale toadstool are the most poisonous mushrooms.
Amanita phalloidesbetter known as death cap Is a fungus that causes life-threatening hepatorenal dysfunction when ingested. Considered the most poisonous mushroom in the world, it contains amatoxins, a group of bicyclic octapeptides that are responsible for 90% of the global deaths associated with fungi.
One toad cap is enough to cause death in an adult. Pale grebe was first bred in British Columbia on the roots of imported European trees and has since spread to North American oaks and is increasingly found in cities.
Fly agaric - This is a mushroom variety that can be found almost everywhere in the northern hemisphere and which is ranked second in terms of danger to life. Mushrooms have a distinctive appearance - bright red or yellow hats, mottled with white spots (by the way, these spots are washed off during rain), where the micel itself forms a symbiosis with trees.
Amanita muscaria (the scientific name for fly agaric) can be found near birches, pines or firs in North / South America, throughout Europe, northern Asia and western Alaska, but it has also been found in symbiosis with eucalyptus in Australia and in Norway's clean linden forests.
9. Mushrooms were used as medicines
In a time when tablets were not yet invented, people were treated as best they could, including mushrooms. In traditional medicine, they are still used, as in pharmacotherapy, and can really help, since many varieties contain useful elements.
In general, fungi played an important role in the development of medicine: streptomycin and penicillin, which marked the beginning of the era of antibiotics, were discovered with the help of molds from which these substances were isolated.
8. Veselka vulgaris - the fastest growing mushroom
Soon after the temperature starts to drop, and especially after wet weather, you can find a little surprise in your yard: phallic looking mushrooms that appear, it would seem, out of nowhere. They are called Phallus impudicus or ordinary fun.
16th century nerd John Gerard called them “prickly mushrooms ” or "fungus virilis penis“. The reason is obvious: they look like you know what. Some cultures consider mushrooms to be aphrodisiacs and even feed them bulls before they mate.
In fact, Phallus Impudicus is nothing more than a species of stinky fungus that appears in cool and humid weather, mainly in autumn and winter. They begin with a white “egg”, which is partially visible above the ground, and a network of roots secures it below. As soon as the mushroom ripens, the adult stem appears quickly - sometimes within an hour.
7. Mushrooms produce vitamin D
With a lack of vitamin D, which we get, basking in the sun, a person's calcium absorption worsens, causing bones to become brittle. And this is far from the only problem that arises because of this.
Mushrooms are a Great Way to Cover Vitamin D Deficiency, since one portion contains approximately 20% of the daily norm, and if you hold them with ultraviolet radiation for one to two seconds, then all 100%.
6. White truffle - the most expensive mushroom
Rare european white truffle can cost over 4,500 euros per 1 kg. Located in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Marche and Tuscany, growing among the roots of poplar, beech, hazelnuts, oak and willow, white truffles are very aromatic, with a strong taste that is described as earthy, musky or garlic.
5. Mushrooms - a source of protein and not only
Mushrooms are excellent sources of protein, fiber, B vitamins (especially niacin), vitamin C and D, calcium, minerals, and selenium.. They also contain substances unique to fungi, such as ergotionine, which, according to research, is a very powerful antioxidant.
Mushrooms can eliminate high blood cholesterol and prevent breast cancer, prostate cancer, and diabetes. They also help in weight loss and increase the strength of your immune system.
4. Honey mushroom - the largest living organism on the planet.
In 1998, a group from the US Forest Service began investigating the causes of the extinction of large trees in Mahler National Forest in eastern Oregon. They found the affected areas in aerial photographs and collected samples of the roots of 112 dead and dying trees, mostly spruce. Tests showed that all but four trees were infected. honey mushroom Armillaria solidipes (formerly known as Armillaria ostoyae).
The most widely spaced were 3.8 km apart. The team estimated that the mushroom covered an area of 9.6 km² and was from 1900 to 8650 years old.
3. Mushrooms are amazingly viable and not afraid of radiation
At the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the tragedy, various types of mushrooms were found, which, I must say, feeling great under conditions of increased radiation.
2. 144 kinds of mushrooms can cause hallucinations
People learned to “get high” from fungi long agoby accidentally discovering their “magical” properties. They used to believe that visions under the influence of mushrooms are a window into the world of spirits.
So that you understand what hallucinogenic mushrooms are capable of, we mention the Greek legend, which states that Perseus founded the city of Mycenae thanks to mushrooms. At a picnic with Andromeda and some of the nobility, he picked and ate a mushroom because he was thirsty. It was a poisonous mushroom, one of those very difficult to distinguish from a non-toxic variety. Then he began to hallucinate, observing visions of the city around him. The nobles who sought to gain the favor of the king took it all seriously and founded the city on the spot where the picnic took place.
It happened already in the second millennium BC. Interestingly, much later, the city became a thriving center for drug trafficking.
1. Mushrooms are allocated in a separate kingdom
A mushroom is neither a fruit nor a vegetable: technically, mushrooms are not even plants. Mushrooms are living organisms that are remotely related to plants and more closely related to animals, but are quite different from any of these groups.
They are similar to the fruit of a plant, except that the “seeds” it produces are actually millions of microscopic spores that form in the gills or pores under the head of the mushroom.
Many species are an important part of nature, decomposing inanimate organic matter. This means that they “eat” dead plants. However, many varieties of mushrooms have special, symbiotic relationships with certain plant species. Often neither a mushroom, nor a plant will grow without a partner.