Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: EM

ectomycorrhizal fungi

Pisolithus arrhizus peridioles 0

Fungus Fact

#119: Pisolithus arrhizus, the Dyeball

“Our next contestant in the Ugly Mushroom Contest performs countless of hours of community service every year and is an accomplished artist. Its goal in life is to make the world a better place and form lasting relationships with those around it. Give it up for…Pisolithus arrhizus! [applause]” There seems to be little doubt among mushroom hunters that P. arrhizus is one of the ugliest mushrooms in the world. The fruiting bodies of older specimens become distorted and can be mistaken for anything from animal feces to decomposing tree stumps. Despite its unsightly appearance, this earthball is used to dye wool, thus earning it the common name, “Dyeball.” The fungus is also prized by foresters for its ability to form robust mycorrhizas in extremely poor soil conditions.

#119: Pisolithus arrhizus, the Dyeball [Archived] 1

Archived

#119: Pisolithus arrhizus, the Dyeball [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. “Our next contestant in the Ugly Mushroom contest performs thousands of hours of community service every year and is an accomplished artist. Its goal in life is to make the world a better place and form lasting relationships with those around it.  Give it up for…Pisolithus arrhizus! [applause]”  There seems to be little doubt among people that arrhizus is one of the ugliest mushrooms in the world.  The fruiting bodies of older specimens become distorted and can be mistaken for anything from animal poop to decomposing tree stumps.  Despite its unsightly appearance, this earthball can be used to dye wool, thus earning it the common name, “Dyeball.”  The fungus is also prized by gardeners and foresters for its ability to form robust mycorrhizae in extremely poor soil conditions.

#078: Evolution of Mycorrhizae 1

Fungus Fact

#078: Evolution of Mycorrhizae

Arbuscular mycorrhizae have been around since plants began to colonize the land and were probably instrumental in that transition. Ectomycorrhizae and ericaceous mycorrhizae evolved during the time of the dinosaurs and were successful because of their ability to extract organic nutrients from the well-defined soil.  Orchid mycorrhizae were the last to evolve.  This probably happened around the same time as mammal lineages started to diverge.  Despite the tens to hundreds of millions of years of symbiosis, coevolution does not appear to play a large role in the evolution of modern mycorrhizal partners.

#075: Ectomycorrhizae 4

Fungus Fact

#075: Ectomycorrhizae

Ectomycorrhizae are mutualistic relationships formed between trees and fungal species in both the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. The main difference between ectomycorrhizae (abbreviated EM or ECM) and arbuscular mycorrhizae (discussed last week) is that in ectomycorrhizae the fungus never penetrates the host plant’s cells.