If mushrooms don t have seeds or roots, how do they grow

A. Mushrooms belong to a larger group of organisms called fungi. All fungi grow from microscopic dormant spores, the product of sexual reproduction. When the spores are released they disperse easily. Each spore can germinate to produce a new individual.

Q. So, mushrooms aren't plants

A. No, although for a long time they were placed in the Plant Kingdom. They do share some features, such as reproduction by means of spores, with primitive green plants such as algae and ferns. But because fungi don't engage in photosynthesis, they belong to a Kingdom, the Mycota, all their own.

Q. What do mushrooms live off

A. Mushrooms don't ingest food like animals do nor do they manufacture their own food like plants do, as they lack chlorophyll, the green pigment that enables plants to make their own food via photosynthesis. In order to feed, mushrooms release digestive enzymes that break down food outside their bodies. The fungus then absorbs the dissolved food through its cell walls.

Because of the way they feed mushrooms, and fungi in general, are very important environmentally for breaking down plant and animal material.

Q. How long have mushrooms been around

A. According to the fossil record, for at least 550 million years.

Q. When did humans start growing mushrooms

A. Humans have been eating mushrooms ever since records began. According to 4600-year-old hieroglyphics the Egyptians considered them to be the food of immortality and banned commoners from eating them, declaring them exclusively for royal consumption.

France was the leader in the formal cultivation of mushrooms. Allegedly Louis XIV was the first mushroom grower. Around this time mushrooms were grown in special caves near Paris dedicated to this unique form of agriculture.

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by Lisa Cardy