Project Ideas

3
Mushrooms are more like animals than plants, even though they might not look like it. When we look at what
they need, it becomes a little more clear. What do you see that all mushrooms and people need that
plants do not?
Mushrooms are like fungal towers with cannons
under their caps that shoot spores (similar to
seeds) into the world. The tower is made up of
millions of single celled units called hyphae that
grow to form tiny threads (imagine them like the
cars that make up a train!).
The hyphae weave together underground to form
a thick network called mycelium. Each hypha has
a nucleus, or cell brain, that can travel freely
throughout the entire network. It communicates
almost instantaneously with all the others
(imagine the nuclei like passengers moving around
in a long train). Mycelium is always growing new
hyphae and learning from each new cell brain as
it interacts with its environment and others in the
network. When the mycelium gets enough water,
it sends a signal telling the hyphae to begin to
form the tower in the shape of the mushroom you
see in the diagram above. What do you think
the tower will help the mushroom do?
Chapter 1: What are mushrooms?
Inside the Mushroom
MUSHROOM NEEDS PEOPLE NEEDS
Food
Oxygen (0
2
)
Carbon
Dioxide (CO
2
)
Water
Water
Sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight
Food
Oxygen (O
2
)
Food
Water
PLANT NEEDS
Basidia
Substrate
Gills
(Inside Box)
Mycelium
Hyphae
Spores
MUSHROOM
GROW KIT
MUSHROOM
GROW KIT
Stalk
Cap