A Quick Overview of Fungi Biology

Mushrooms are neither plant nor animal, they belong to a separate  taxonomical kingdom: fungi. The fungi kingdom is host to more than 144,000 known species and includes molds, yeasts, and rusts. Fungi differ from plants and animals in the way they obtain their nutrients. Basically speaking, plants make their food using the sun's energy using a process called photosynthesis, while animals eat and internally digest their food. Fungi do neither: their mycelium grows into or around the food source and secretes enzymes that digest the food externally, and the mycelium then absorbs the digested nutrients. What you see above ground is the fruiting body or sporophore, the part of the fungus we commonly refer to as a mushroom. A mushroom is made from a collection of fungal cells called hyphae, which are woven together to produce a spore bearing mushroom.

Some mushrooms are capable of digesting wood, breaking it down into the primary components of forest soils. Many mushrooms form partnerships with roots of living trees, and the resulting fungus-root is called a mycorrhiza. The mushroom's mycelium weaves itself around the root and actually alters the shape of the root. The mushroom absorbs water and minerals for the tree, but in return the tree gives the mushroom nutrients, too. Since both partners benefit from each other, their alliance is considered a symbiotic relationship. 

There are three main types of mushrooms: saprotrophic, parasitic and mycorrhizal mushrooms.

• Saprotrophic mushrooms eat dead and decaying matter and are beneficial in the decomposition process of the forest. These mushrooms release special enzymes that encourage the deterioration of organic matter. Shiitake, morels, oyster, and button mushrooms all belong to the saprotrophic category of mushrooms.

• Parasitic mushrooms feed off other plant life. Detrimental to the host plant, parasitic mushrooms provide no benefit to its host. Examples of parasitic mushrooms include chaga and lion’s mane.

• Mycorrhizal mushrooms give and receives benefits from other plants in a symbiotic relationship. The mycelium is often supported by and dependent upon the roots of other plants for structure. Mycorrhizal mushrooms also help hydrate a plant that provides sugars to return the favor. It is because of this symbiotic relationship that both the mushroom and plant can grow stronger and larger. Mushrooms in this group include porcini, amanita and truffles.