Status Updates From Close Encounters of the Fun...

Truffle is fungi that develop subterranean fruit bodies. They loose less water, potato shape helps pack most no of spores in a small vol. they use animals as pollinators
ectomycorrhiza- mycelium covering the plant roots on the outside, (opposite: endomycorrhiza)
Mycelium help exchange substances in soil to plants such as iron,

hyphae can be luminous and utilized in the world war to identify allies in the dark
there's a principle in biology that states: any feature can have natural selection acting on, but why some fungi are luminous is still a mystery. it has been suggested for the function of attracting insects but other non-luminous species grow successfully in the same forest and there's no conclusive evidence of firefly attraction

Two man species of fungi- based on the structure of reproductive organs
Ascosmycetes- spores developed in enclosed asci, and ejected forcibly
Basidiomycetes- spores in sausage shaped structures called basidium formed at the centre of the gill or around the pores, wind current carries it for distribution
Prototaxites fossil appears to be resilient fungi but could it be lichen?? As it’s 6x bigger than its herbs

Toadstool- fungi you can’t eat
Mushroom- fungi you can eat
They both have gills or spores on the underside (increases surface area) to distribute spores so the area of underside is the same as area of upper side.
Fruiting body - sporocarp
Cep picking abundant in Eastern Europe as pastime? Numbers of mushrooms are decreasing in the UK. But in Italy spawns back due to the body being mycelium rather than the cap

Porcini differs from the common supermarket mushroom by the underside. Which is white with gills in ‘normal’ mushrooms and yellow with pores in porcini. It belongs to the genus boletus, and made up of four species. It has a unique taste and served in pasta in local restaurants in borga val di taro