The fungi kingdom might hold some of the answers for combating climate change. But these answers won’t be found in what you picture when you think of a typical mushroom. Instead, they lie within part of the fungi that are invisible to our daily awareness. Mushrooms have an intricate root system called mycelium that provides the mushroom body with nutrients. Mycelium also cleanses the surrounding soil of toxins while working to decompose dead plant and animal matter. And importantly, these root systems can actually exist apart from a mushroom body. This type of fungi is called mycorrhizal fungi. Scientists are hoping to unlock answers to solving the climate crisis within this category of fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi exist entirely underground and survive by clinging to the root systems of other plants. They form a symbiotic relationship with the plants, in which the mycorrhizal fungi release enzymes to break down dead matter and convert it into nutrients within the soil for plants to consume. These root systems are extremely complex, and their total length in the top 10cm of the soil reaches more than 280 quadrillion miles globally. So how does this help with global warming? Mycorrhizal fungi need carbon dioxide (CO2) to survive. People may think that trees in forest ecosystems do all of the work to absorb CO2, but it is actually fungi that hold down the fort. Mycorrhizal fungi keep CO2 locked in their system to aid in the decaying process. This prevents CO2 from trapping heat in our atmosphere, making mycorrhizal fungi networks one of the earth’s largest carbon sinks. Plants are estimated to transfer 5 billion tons of carbon to mycorrhizal fungi every year. Unfortunately, with increasing forest degradation comes the destruction of mycorrhizal fungi. More and more plant matter is being cleared from construction and agricultural sites. Supporting decomposition by allowing plant materials to decay instead of removing them helps conserve the fungi in the soil. Preserving these systems, instead of removing them, is becoming more crucial by the day. However, there is still room for hope. Efforts to fight deforestation paired with regenerative agriculture provide space for soil restoration by allowing mycorrhizal fungi to thrive.

It’s often said that you can tell how edible a mushroom is by the number of names it has. This concept certainly applies to the edible Flammulina velutipes, which goes by the common names Enokitake (and the shortened form Enoki), Velvet Foot, Winter Mushroom, and Golden Mushroom, as well as many other derivatives and regional names (if you’re outside the United States, you probably call it something else!). Another reason the species has so many names is because it looks very different in the wild than it does in the grocery store: in the wild, it grows as an orange umbrella-shaped mushroom with a black fuzzy stipe, but when cultivated it grows as a pale thin needle-shaped (or perhaps spaghetti-shaped) mushroom with a tiny pileus. I generally use the names F. velutipes, Velvet Foot, and Enoki, since each one emphasizes a different physical aspect of the mushroom. Description Natural Form The Velvet Foot is an umbrella-shaped agaric that grows from dead hardwood in clusters that share a common base. Individually, these are small to medium-sized mushrooms, growing 1-7 cm across and 2-11 cm tall. The whole cluster, however, can get much larger – perhaps a foot or more – although I’ve never been lucky enough to find that many at one time. When fresh, the pileus of F. velutipes is smooth but covered in a thin layer of slime, which makes it slippery to tacky (when dried out a bit). The cap is typically orangish with a lighter margin, although it can vary from reddish brown to bright orange to yellow-brown. Underneath the cap, the Velvet Foot sports whitish to yellowish gills that are attached to the central stipe. The gills form close together and usually dip slightly before they connect to the stipe. Flammulina velutipes spores are white, so the mushroom will give you a white spore print. The Velvet Foot’s namesake is its stipe, which is also its most distinctive – and beautiful – feature. When young, the stipe is yellowish or orangish and covered in tiny white hairs. As it matures, the stipe darkens to dark brown and develops a velvety texture (similar to the surface of a peach), progressing from the base upward. When fully mature, only the very tip of the stipe remains lighter and smooth, staying about the same color as the adjacent gills. Cultivated Form The cultivated form of F. velutipes is so dramatically different from the wild form that it has inspired many common names: Enokitake, Golden Needle, Futu, Lily Mushrooms, etc. The name Golden Needle is particularly apt: the cultivated mushrooms are mostly stipe, topped by a tiny pileus scarcely wider than the stipe. The colors are much paler than the normal form and range from white to light yellow. The largest cultivated enoki mushrooms measure roughly 30 cm long and 3 cm wide at the pileus, although dimensions are highly variable based on when the mushrooms were harvested. You actually find the cultivated form in the wild, whenever the mushrooms begin growing underneath bark. The purpose of a mushroom is to release spores into the air, but a mushroom trapped underneath bark cannot accomplish this task because it has no access to the air currents. The cultivated form of F. velutipes is really just a clever solution to this problem. First, the mushroom senses it is trapped under bark by measuring the amount of light and carbon dioxide. Bark blocks light and traps CO2 (like us, fungi breathe out CO2 as they grow, which leaves the wood and gets stuck below the bark), so the mushroom can tell if the environment is unfavorable when there is very little light and a very high CO2 concentration. Under these conditions, the fungus switches to growing in the cultivated form. Instead of devoting resources to expanding the cap, developing color, and producing spores, the mushrooms instead put all their energy into growing tall. This results in long thin pale mushrooms. As the cultivated form mushrooms extend, they search for any cracks in the bark (places where light gets in and there is less carbon dioxide). Once they encounter a crack, they grow through the gap and escape into the external environment. Upon encountering open air, the mushrooms switch back to growing in the natural form: the pileus expands and develops color and the stipe becomes black and fuzzy. This process ensures the mushroom doesn’t waste energy on spore production until it is sure the spores can be successfully deposited into air currents. The next time you find some Velvet Foot, peel back the nearby bark to see if you can find the cultivated forms as well! Unfortunately, I haven’t been lucky enough to document this phenomenon, but there are some great photos of it on the websites linked under “See Further.” Humans decided that the cultivated form is better for cooking, so we intentionally grow the mushrooms under conditions that mimic bark. This process is explained further under the “Cultivation” section, below. Ecology In the wild, F. velutipes can be found decomposing hardwood logs, usually with the bark still attached. Its fruiting season starts in fall and continues throughout the winter, which earned it the common name Winter Mushroom. However, you occasionally find the Velvet Foot at other times of year as well. It particularly likes warm spells in the winter and cold snaps during other seasons (whenever temperatures drop below 60°F for long enough to initiate fruiting). The mushrooms decompose various kinds of hardwood and will sometimes grow from roots or buried wood and may therefore appear to be growing terrestrially. The Velvet Foot seems to have a particular affinity for elms, so it is especially common in places recently impacted by a wave of Dutch Elm Disease. Other Flammulina Species Currently, there are 11 recognized species of Flammulina, but it seems likely there are at least two more hiding in Asia. All species in the genus have the distinctive black velvety stipe, making it easy to get to genus. Distinguishing the species, however, is best done with a microscope. Fortunately, you can get pretty close by looking at the pileus and checking the habitat. In North America, there are five Flammulina species you have to consider. If the species is growing on poplar or aspen

Historically overlooked and dismissed, fungi are, in fact, one of Earth’s hardest workers. We owe them life as we know it and we could not exist without them. Do you know why? Here are ten reasons: ‍ Fungi break down compounds and turn them into nutrients available to enable the regeneration of life. Without fungi, the world would be covered in layers and layers of dead plants, animals, and almost everything you can imagine. Fungi make things rot, generating space and nutrients for everything else to live.  ‍ Watch the short “Let Things Rot” to dive deeper into the fungi kingdom and the importance of allowing natural cycles of degeneration to unfold. ‍ Mycorrhizal fungi are a type of fungi that grow in the soil and plant roots, forming complex networks under our feet. Most plants depend on symbiotic associations with this kind of fungi which entangle themselves through the soil and roots providing plants with crucial nutrients and helping defend them from disease, drought, and a wide range of stresses. In return, plants supply the fungus with sugars and more since fungi don’t photosynthesize. ‍ ‍ ‍ Do you like wine, bread, chocolate, beer, and soy sauce? Say thanks to the fungi! Yeasts are single-cell fungi with an enormous impact on food and beverage production since centuries ago. Through the process of fermentation, yeasts generate carbon dioxide and alcohol. This metabolic activity is the key to dough leavening and multiple cereals, grains, and fruits brewing. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most popular representative of yeasts involved in fermentation by making beer. Another fungal species that adds unique flavoring to food is Penicillium roqueforti, which contributes to the peculiar taste of the world-renowned blue cheese. ‍ Fungi are found in the guts of sheep, cattle and goats, as well as in many other ruminant and nonruminant wild herbivores. These types of fungi aid them in their digestion because high-fiber foods are challenging to break down without them.  ‍ Mycorrhizal fungi -which grow in symbiosis with plant roots- are a major global carbon sink. Ecosystems with plants that integrate carbon into the underground fungal networks store an estimated eight times more carbon compared to ecosystems with non-mycorrhizal vegetation. Underground fungi sequester carbon, feed on it and grow into immense and expanding networks that act as true nutrient highways. The carbon stored underground also makes the soil richer and more stable, protecting it from erosion.  ‍ How many times were you prescribed antibiotics? And how many of those times was that antibiotic penicillin? Probably, your answer is “a lot.” Our beloved penicillin is obtained from a fungus of the genus Penicillium and was first used by our ancestors many hundreds of years ago. Later, its mainstream use was triggered by the work of Alexander Fleming in 1928. Fleming accidentally encountered penicillin when a few of his culture dishes got contaminated with mold. What had been considered “a nuisance” until that moment, was one of the most remarkable medical events in recent history. ‍ Did you know that mycelium, the non-visible part of fungi that grows into a substrate, can be turned into packaging, shoes, a purse, or building blocks? Fungal cells secrete enzymes that break down the materials around them in order to reuptake the nutrients and grow. They essentially “glue” what is left of the substrate together, binding it into a myco-material structure as it develops. The final result can resemble various materials like foam, rubber, cork, or leather.  ‍ With the incredible malleability of mycelium and increasing technological knowledge and capability, there are immense possibilities for using myco-materials, which are durable, compostable, and sustainable.  ‍ Do you want to know more about this process? Ecovative is a company developing many different biomaterial applications of fungi.  ‍ Fungi and humanity have culturally co-evolved together, and our ancestors have used mushrooms for thousands of years. Conks were used to carry fire from one place to another, while reishi has been part of Chinese traditional medicine since at least the 5th century. Have you ever seen a giant puffball? They grow on grasslands in different parts of the world and are edible when young. When they mature, the spores are medicinal, and once aged and sporulated, the sterile base on which they’ve been held is used as tinder. That means one single species can feed you, heal you, and help you start a fire. Imagine how many fungal properties are still waiting to be unveiled!  ‍ Watch the short documentary “Fungal Elders” to learn more about the relationship between fungi and humans.  ‍ In a world where mental health awareness has taken on greater importance in society, fungi amaze us once again. Psilocybin is a well-known psychedelic compound present in over 100 species of mushrooms. Although psilocybin was demonized and marginalized during the 60’s, as it turns out, it was not all about recreational tripping. Many scientific studies indicate that psilocybin is a game changer for people suffering from major depression, anxiety, addictions, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The administration of psilocybin in conjunction with psychotherapy has shown a significant improvement for people experiencing these conditions, including long-term effects and cases of remission.  ‍ Did you know some organisms are fungivorous? That means they eat mushrooms and/or lichens. This behavior has been seen in birds, insects, and mammals, among others. At least 22 primate species eat mushrooms, including Goeldi’s monkey (Callimico goeldii), a small South American primate. They spend up to 63% of their feeding time foraging and eating fungi! The relationship between animals and fungi also benefits the latter, providing another mechanism for dispersing spores.  Protecting fungi means protecting the food web of other species.  ‍ Estimated fungal biodiversity vastly exceeds the number of species we currently know. With this in mind, we can imagine a world of possibilities! The Fungi Foundation has worked for the fungi for more than ten years, being the first NGO dedicated exclusively to protecting this kingdom. They facilitate the exploration, discovery, documentation, and conservation of fungi to increase knowledge of their diversity, promote innovative solutions to contingent problems, educate about their existence