How surprising can the habitat of mushrooms be? Let's not talk about the mushrooms on the flower pots, wall corners, furniture, and mops (there is a review link at the end of the article)
Recently, we have brushed up on some very "bizarre" mushrooms, such as small mushrooms on live frogs, delicious Chinese mushrooms buried in sand, Kando crispy mushrooms that like seawater, and schizous mushrooms growing on apples, which is simply a crazy refresh of our understanding of the mushroom growing environment......
A small mushroom on a living frog
In June 2023, when scientific researchers observed golden-backed frogs in a roadside pond in Karnataka, India, they found a small mushroom growing on one of them! The high-definition camera captured the frog, and the mushroom could be seen tightly "sticking" to the side of the frog.
On the right side of the picture is a miniature white mushroom
图源：Lohit Y.T.
Even as the frog moved from the center of the branch to the top, changing positions as it went, the mushroom remained intact.
As you can see from the photo, this mushroom is some kind of small mushroom (Mycena sp.). Mushrooms of the genus Mushrooms are generally relatively small in size and are usually saprophytic, preferring to grow on rotten wood, of course, there are also mushrooms that grow on the roots of living trees, and mushrooms that grow on moving objects, even mushrooms, are unheard of.
The golden-backed frog became a mobile bus for the mushrooms
Source: Journals@KU website
All mushrooms require the right temperature and humidity for them to occur, and more importantly, the mycelium in the substrate absorbs enough nutrients.
PS: In fact, the mushroom we see is the reproductive structure of the fungus, and the fungus usually acts as a "hermit" in the form of hyphae, and when the vegetative hyphae in the substrate absorb enough nutrients and the environmental conditions are suitable, it will germinate a fruiting body (what we call a mushroom) to reproduce and become eye-catching.
One reasonable hypothesis is that the frog had a small piece of wood left under its skin, which was stuck in the skin, and from where mushrooms grew.
Unfortunately, the expedition only took pictures and did not bring the frogs and mushrooms back for study. What kind of mushroom is it? To what extent do mushroom hyphae infect frogs? It is unknown whether there are wounds and wood chips left on the frogs.
It's maddening to have so many questions left, and it's unknown when this peculiar phenomenon of "mushrooms growing on a living frog" will be observed...... Let's take a look at the following "apple mushroom" that has been sent to the laboratory.
Schizophyllum on apples
In July 2024, Ms. Deng from Deqing County, Zhejiang Province, posted an online post saying that the apples she had forgotten for many days were "moldy" and moldy enough to grow mushrooms!
A few white mushrooms grow from the top of the intact apple
Source: Xiaohongshu @ Peirong
Hey? Aren't mushrooms basically growing on soil and rotting wood, and nourished by rotten organic matter, why do these apples grow mushrooms when they are so good?
Dr. Xu from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, swiped this apple, which was nicknamed the "King of Fruit Fungi" by netizens, and sent a private message asking for research (later Ms. Deng gave it away). It turns out that this mushroom is Schizophyllum commune, whose trade name is "white ginseng", which is the most common species in the genus Schizophyllum and is a well-known edible fungus with extremely tenacious vitality. Almost all year round, you can see them on branches and stakes in the wild.
Cracks on rotting wood
Source: Wikipedia
Schizomyces is considered a plant pathogen that can infect live trees such as apples, citrus, and olives, causing wood to rot, bark to blacken, and leaf necrosis.
The occurrence of this wood rot disease is mainly concentrated in senescent and disease-resistant trees, and the schizomyces disease of apple trees has been reported at home and abroad. Therefore, it is possible that the spores of the fungus invade the wound of the apple, or it may be that the fungus first infects the apple tree, so the apple carries the spores or hyphae of the fungus, and when the environmental conditions are right (the rainy season), the mushroom grows.
Dr. Xu has already tasted it for everyone, and this white ginseng does not have an apple flavor
Source: Xiaohongshu @ Peirong
Life experience tells us that apples are very shelf-stable and sometimes do not spoil for months, thanks to a layer of wax secreted by apples during growth, which can effectively prevent external microorganisms from invading the pulp. The depression of the apple stipe is a breakthrough, which can reach the core directly, so it is also the most easily invaded by microorganisms, and the schizophyllum naturally chooses this place to grow.
As you can see from the cut photo, the fungus has invaded the inside of the apple
Photo by Lu Jinrong
Immediately afterwards, Dr. Xu received garlic and other items sent by netizens in Luzhou, Sichuan
Photo by Lu Jinrong
It is worth mentioning that although molds and mushrooms are both fungi, they are two different kinds of things, and those that generally present dusty fruiting bodies are called "molds", and those that produce large fruiting bodies (macrofungi) are called "mushrooms".
Whether it is a small mushroom on a live frog, or a schizophyllum on an apple or garlic, it is relatively rare, and it needs to be in the right place at the right time. The mushrooms described below are different, they have been fully adapted to their special habitat.
Delicious Chinese mushrooms buried in the soil
In the past two years, you may have swiped such a video on the Internet: a large bag was slightly raised on the arid sandy ground, and a few huge mushrooms were buried in the thick layer of fine sand on the surface!
Mushrooms that "lie in the sand".
Video source: Douyin @ Xinjiang Shanzhen Sannong (Xiao Hei)
This is the famous Xinjiang sand mushroom, the Chinese delicacy mushroom (Agaricus sinodeliciosus). As soon as you hear this name, you know that it can be eaten, delicious! The Chinese delicacy mushroom is a new species discovered in 2015 in mainland Xinjiang, and the distribution of this species is currently being recorded in other countries. Why do such large umbrella-shaped mushrooms grow in dry sand?
Locals call China's delicious mushroom "reed mushroom", a name derived from the reeds associated with the environment in which they grow. Decaying reeds form a soft, breathable and nutrient-rich grass collapse, providing an ideal substrate for the mycelium, on which reed mushrooms often grow.
In addition to reeds, they also often live together with red willows, hence the name "red willow mushrooms". Red willow is a very common shrub in the desert of Xinjiang, and where there is red willow, the moisture and humidity are usually relatively high. In general, the sandy soil where China's delicious mushrooms are buried is not as dry as we thought.
Red willow is a common name, referring to several plants of the genus Tamarix in the family Salix (chēng), and the most commonly used skewers are the "multi-branched tamarix" in North and Northwest China. Source: Picture Worm Creative
Most of the life of China's delicious mushrooms is buried in sand, which can reduce the loss of water and ensure their normal development. It is the duty of all mushrooms to reproduce, and as the mushrooms mature, the spores will scatter into the sand, and the wind will carry them farther away.
Xinjiang is the largest distribution area of salinized soil in the mainland, and not only the vegetation is facing the test of saline-alkali environment, but also the mushrooms. Reeds may be adapted to the alkaline environment by enhancing carbon and nitrogen utilization and improving cell membrane stability, and the alkaline environment may be able to promote fruiting body formation.
If digging mushrooms on the Gobi gives people a feeling of "catching up with the dry sea", and digging mushrooms that can "lie in the sand", then the following one is "catching up with the real sea".
Marine mushrooms
In fact, fungi living in marine or estuarine environments are not uncommon, and more than 2,000 species of this type of fungus have been discovered, most of which are tiny fungi no more than 2 mm in diameter.
In December 2023, two college students from South China Agricultural University discovered two "marine mushrooms" that are more in line with people's traditional concepts in Xiwan Mangrove Park in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province and Seagull Island Mangrove Park in Guangzhou, China.
褐果漂泊堪多脆柄菇(Candolleomyces brunneovagabundus)的生境，寄主海桑，及其担子果。 图源：参考文献[1]
Although the largest of these two mushrooms is only 17 millimeters, they are also much larger than previously discovered marine fungi. They grow on decaying wood in mangrove forests, where seawater often floods them, carrying away mature spor-producing tissues and spreading spores.
In addition, some animals will eat both mushrooms for food, and undigested spores may be excreted in their feces, which is another trick to spread the spores. Although most species of the genus Kando are typically umbrella-shaped, both marine mushrooms have transformed into semi-enclosed near-globular shapes in order to adapt to the high-salinity, waterlogged environment, which helps to retain water and protect sporogenic tissues.
The habitat of C. albovagabundus, host Mulberry and Basidiocarpus. Source: References[1]
The researchers further cultured the hyphae of these two mushrooms in both freshwater and seawater, and found that their germination rate and growth rate in seawater were significantly higher than in freshwater, suggesting that they were halophilic fungi that had adapted to the marine environment, rather than terrestrial fungi that were "trapped" by the ocean.
It may be incredible to see mushrooms growing in the ocean, deserts, and even living animals and plants, and marvel at their environmental adaptability and survival wisdom. However, when we put mushrooms back into microorganisms or fungi, these amazing phenomena seem to become easy to understand.
After all, while microbes are often difficult to see with the naked eye, they are ubiquitous and can even inhabit extreme environments like deserts, rocks, deep seas, geysers, and more. As a class of microorganisms that we are more familiar with, fungi are naturally adaptable to the environment.
Bibliography:
[1] Yang K L, Lin J Y, Li G M, et al. Mushrooms Adapted to Seawater: Two New Species of Candolleomyces (Basidiomycota, Agaricales) from China[J]. Journal of Fungi, 2023, 9(12): 1204.
[2] Lahbib A, Chattaoui M, Aydi N, et al. First report of Schizophyllum commune associated with apple wood rot in Tunisia[J]. New Disease Reports, 2016, 34: 26-26.
[3] Maliye, C. C., & Lohit Y., T. (2024). Mushroom Sprouting out of a Living Frog. Reptiles & Amphibians, Vol. 31 No. 1 (2024)(31: e20966 2024). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377805302_Mushroom_Sprouting_out_of_a_Living_Frog
[4] Ling, Z.-L., Cao, B., Hu, S.-N., Geng, J.-N., Liu, F., Liu, D.-M., Zhao, R.-L., 2023. Insights into the genomic evolution and the alkali tolerance mechanisms of Agaricus sinodeliciosus by comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses. Microbial Genomics 9, 000928. https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000928
Wang, Z.-R., Parra, L.A., Callac, P., Zhou, J.-L., Fu, W.-J., Dui, S.-H., Hyde, K.D., Zhao, R.-L., 2015. Edible species of Agaricus (Agaricaceae) from Xinjiang Province (Western China). Phytotaxa 202, 185. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.202.3.2
[5] Hola B, Murshed R, Jbour M. Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of some Syrian wild mushroom (Agaricus spp) strains[J]. Scientific Reports, 2023, 13(1): 15896.
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