Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard: The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists NICHOLAS P. MONEY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard This page intentionally left blank Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists NICHOLAS P. MONEY 1 2002 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and an associated company in Berlin Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Money, Nicholas P. Mr. Bloomfield’s orchard : a personal view of fungal biology / Nicholas P. Money. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-515457-6 1. Fungi. I. Title. QK603 .M59 2002 579.5—dc21 2002072654 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid free paper For Terence Ingold and his jewels This page intentionally left blank Contents vii Preface ix CHAPTER 1 Offensive Phalli and Frigid Caps 1 CHAPTER 2 Insidious Killers 21 CHAPTER 3 What Lies Beneath 45 CHAPTER 4 Metamorphosis 65 CHAPTER 5 The Odd Couple 87 CHAPTER 6 Ingold’s Jewels 107 CHAPTER 7 Siren Songs 129 CHAPTER 8 Angels of Death 151 CHAPTER 9 Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard 169 Notes 191 Index 203 This page intentionally left blank Preface It is indeed a singular and despised family to the history of which we are about to dedicate this volume. —M. C. Cooke, British Fungi (1871) Some time ago, my colleague Jerry McClure told me that the most for- tunate among us are faced with three options at the juncture in life once valued as the midlife crisis: go insane, engage in an extramarital affair, or write a book. In my own approach to this disconcerting landmark, all but the third option vaporized under my wife’s guidance. The fruit of her influence is in your hands. Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard is a personal reflection on the subject of mycology, the scientific study of fungi. Many people giggle at the men- tion of these organisms, drawing on vague notions about hallucinogens and poisons, fairy tales, and the erectile behavior of mushrooms. Although such peculiarities may draw people to this book, my primary concern as its author is to explore our profound intimacy with fungi and to articulate the most important consequences of these interactions. Employing a flexible interpretation of that term interaction, this is a cel- ebration both of the fungi (even the nasty ones) and of a selection of the scientists obsessed with their study (none that I know of have been exceptionally nasty). While I have written for a general audience, par- ticularly those with some scientific education, I also hope to deepen the appreciation of fungi among my biologist peers. There are a number of people to whom I extend deep gratitude for stimulating this book. As a teenager studying at Bristol University, my first—and most inspiring—guide to mycology was Mike Madelin, and my admiration for my doctoral mentor at Exeter, John Webster, grows with every year. The dedication of this book to Terence Ingold is ix [...]... boletes develop in the embryonic stage of the fruiting body beneath the soil and become exposed as the mushroom surfaces and expands its cap Very few genes specify the emergence of the fruiting body and the bolete remains buried when these mutate It seems that an important theme in the evolution of false truffles and other gasteromycetes is the gradual loss of the unfolding capacity of the fruiting body... with the proposition that the condensation of water on the spore is the key to the catapult mechanism But mushroom cooling makes more sense when we remember that the surface of the spore is sugary and differs from the basidia and all of the other cells of the gills While water vapor streams from most of the mushroom’s tissues, a little condenses on the spore, hydrating those sugars and making the droplet... examination of the fossils reveals their spores stranded in the amber beneath the gills When the amber is fractured, spores along the fault line are extracted to one or the other half of the jewel, leaving a perfect impression on the other side The electron microscope reveals a projection at the base of each spore’s footprint the decisive signature of the catapult mechanism So while herds of dinosaurs... recognize that the space between the gills is saturated with water vapor that evaporates from the mushroom’s tissues Sugars and other molecules seep from the interior OFFENSIVE PHALLI AND FRIGID CAPS 13 Fig 1.7 Sequence of photographs taken at ten-second intervals showing the formation of the fluid drop at the base of the spore and subsequent discharge of the spore The scale bar in the bottom left... never expand, and the spores would stay on the gills Our experiments exposed the forest floor as a thermal mosaic, with mushrooms as its coldest inhabitants After mushroom spores are shot from the hymenium, they fall through the air spaces between the gills and then emerge from the lower surface of the cap and disperse in the air It is surprising that so few of them become trapped inside the fruiting... under the bark of dying trees, and connects with the roots of healthier ones This is the feeding phase of the organism’s life, or life cycle, and grows as masses of filamentous cells called hyphae Only when these hyphae have gathered a sufficient harvest of food, and when the subterranean fungus is fattened and pumped full of water, can it surface to disturb our composure Biologists decipher the shape and. .. drops that develop on the spores and spoil the discharge mechanism There are many ways, then, in which the shape and the physiological behavior of the whole mushroom contribute to its success at creating spore clouds The spores of gasteromycete fungi are spherical or ellipsoidal with no hilar appendix to mar their radial symmetry The lack of the hump accords with the absence of the catapult mechanism,... tormentor that gave you the water, then kicked the bottom of the bucket, splashing you with its contents.) A H Reginald Buller, professor of botany at the University of Manitoba, was responsible for much of the early research on the spore discharge mechanism, and bequeathed a treasure trove of original ideas to mycology when he died in 1944 Mycologists refer to the fluid drop on the spore’s hilar appendix... delicate structures They are built OFFENSIVE PHALLI AND FRIGID CAPS 5 Fig 1.3 Cut egg of phallic mushroom The central receptacle, which expands to form the stalk, is surrounded by the green-black mass of developing spores called the gleba Jelly surrounds the gleba from masses of corrugated hyphae that are stretched into a weft of filaments when the egg hatches Most of the volume of the erect fruiting... camera and waiting for the appearance of the droplet of fluid When the trigger was squeezed, thousands of frames of film were pulled through the camera in a couple of seconds by a deafening motor connected to the spool But even at very high speeds, the best sequences showed hundreds of frames with a spore and its droplet, followed by hundreds of frames showing a naked spike of a basidium from which the . Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard: The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists NICHOLAS P. MONEY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard This page intentionally left blank Mr. . because they are very good at making copies of themselves. Stinkhorns and other mushrooms are the tips of mycological icebergs. The umbilical cord at the bottom of the egg connects with the larger organism. intentionally left blank Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists NICHOLAS P. MONEY 1 2002 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar