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| Toadstools.....a fruit! |
After doing a bit of homework this week reading Kevin Handreck's book 'Gardening Down Under' I come across a chapter about Mycorrhizal Fungi. I read about how mushrooms and toadstools are the fruit of Mycorrhizal Fungi. So instead of toadstools being a garden nuisance that worry me because the kids might pick them up, eat them and get poisoned........much to my surprise I read how the fungi actually develops a favourable liaison with the surrounding trees and plants when it invades it's root system. Instead of killing or harming the host, they live in harmony together supporting each other. The tree roots provide the fungi with sugars and the fungi feeds nutrients back to the tree, essentially expanding the trees root system. They also increase the hosts tolerance to drought, high temperatures, some pathogens and some herbicides!
Now I'm sure the eating and poisoning thing still applies but I have totally changed my attitude about seeing them dotted everywhere underneath my trees. Fantastic.
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| The beautiful toadstools under my Birches at home. |
Excellent, we will be looking at more organism relationships with plants coming up in soils soon. The fly Agaric beautiful but poisonous. They seem to be everywhere in Tasmania this year, due to the favourable weather we have had this autumn.
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