Part 2: Attention Where Attention is Due
The mushroom itself is merely the reproductive “fruit” of a much larger organism made up of networked microscopic white fibers called mycelium that are living actively underground and have lately been given the nick-name, “Nature’s Internet.”
Mushrooms always take me by surprise: their unimaginable range of colors shapes and sizes; their peculiar, temperamental lives.
Just consider this magical range of abilities: some can be folded into tomorrow night’s pasta; some can be snorted out by trained truffle hounds or provide a gooey feast for a gaggle of gluttonous slugs.
Some can create revelatory hallucinations. Others can be used to clean polluted soil, produce strong antibiotics, modulate immune systems and treat cancer.
From "Alice in Wonderland" to the video game, “Alice–The Madness Returns," they have been firmly planted into our cultural landscape. Mushrooms have been ritualized and worshiped by diverse cultures from Egypt to New Guinea extending back to Paleolithic times.
But we must not forget their dark side: Some mushrooms have a mysterious history of being put to use for less than honorable purposes. And, of more contemporary relevance, some (but which ones?!) can send you quickly to the grave–if you're not careful–right this very afternoon. Boo!
Because of their seen and unseen potential, they elicit deep emotional responses from adulation by those who understand them (the mycology societies of the world and me) to outright fear by those who do not–and yes, those people have a name. They are called the mycophobics.
Here are a few more images in their quiet, gifted seclusion:
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