Tag Archives: plants

Day 03 – first fungi + lightning strikes

Paleo evidence of fungi is naturally limited, their bodies being soft & squishy & such. But some lifeforms have been found frozen in rock. This is about them, the Adams & Eves of the fungi family, well not tree, but you get what I mean.

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Prototaxites

imagine a quiet landscape : strange &
surreal to our cellulose-centric : eyes : 
400 million years past : before flowers : 
before forests : & long : before dinosaurs

most plants barely : tickling ankles : no 
trees : no reptiles : no shade : probably 
even very little sound : nothing for 
the wind to whisper wispily through

but rising from the ground : grand 
pillars : things : neither of stone :
nor wood : taller than a typical house
vertical structures : fingers pointing

while mammals still swam : the primordial ocean
this potential precursor to fungi : is king

*Scientists debate what Prototaxites actually was: a giant fungus, a lichen-like 
organism, or a completely extinct branch of life with no modern descendants. 
But let’s not let mere quibbles stand in the way of a nice sonnet.

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Factoid 3 – Lightning can speed up mushroom growth & potentially double production  

mycelia celebrations

lightning strikes
mushrooms multiply

mycologists  myco
philes  &  mycophagists

celebrate thunder 
dance in storms

Day 02 – hyphens for + sizes of

When people think of fungi they probably don’t appreciate all that they do on our earth. Mushrooms (sometimes magic), toadstools & causing food to rot probably the main contenders. I want to take a moment to offer a playful hyphenated version of some (probably not even all) of the extraordinary things fungi is capable of based on my research over the years.

*Poems were written yesterday but too tired to upload before midnight. Fell asleep in computer chair.

[NB The main poem is first & last lines only]

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fun-gi (a hyphenated exploration)

so much more than mere mushrooms, they are — 

dark-dwellers : moistness-lovers : rock-eaters : soil-makers : space-survivors : vision-inducers : mind-benders : medicine-makers : animal behaviour-manipulators : rain-generators : zombie-fiers

menu-adorners : food-producers : cheese-ripeners : grain-brewers : fruit-fermenters : bread-risers

…

influencers : of every aspect of the living Earth

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Factoid 2 – micro to macro

size really does matter

from single-celled, microscopic
beer-brewing yeast

to one massive multicellular
Armillaria ostoyae Oregon organism 

weighing 100s of tonnes & estimated 
to be at least 2 millennia old

it’s lovingly nicknamed 
the Humongous Fungus

(the beer yeast meanwhile is known
simply                           as Jeff)

Day 01 – names & nomenclature 

April. Always after March. Every damn year. So soon in the season too. Thus Na/GloPoWriMo 2026. 

Spent yesterday being super organised & preparing for a whole other theme … but this idea has been roiling around in the back of my mind for some years. And so — a 20th hour decision meant tossing all that work out & going with my gut.

This year’s themes-based approach means I seek to write 30 poems about mushroom & fungi. (Things I love; have [read/possess] multiple books about; & am truly fascinated by.)

Sometimes the poem might be about mushrooms themselves, searching for them in the forests, recipes, their role in nature, literature, whatever. Othertimes I might take one of the many unusual exotic names as a title & riff off that on a totally unrelated tangent with only the name as common denominator. 

As previously III, since many journals/comps/etc refuse to accept poems even if they’ve only been on personal Facebook pages or blogs with minimal subscribers I won’t be posting the entirety of each poem on my blog, but a [hopefully] tantalising snippet.

I’m uncertain yet whether I shall undertake to write a daily Poetic Factoid poem. Feels like there’s a lot on this month already! Even these short silly poems often work quite well, better than the main event sometimes. Perhaps I should just write these & bugger the serious bunk.

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Day 1 – the many fine names of the mushroom

Button : Oyster : Honey : Chestnut : Cauliflower
Coral : Lobster : Puffball : Giant Puffball : Parasol 
Milky : Straw : Deer : Beech : Elm

Wine Cap : Stinkhorn Inky Cap : Black Trumpet
Hedgehog : Chicken of the Woods
Lion’s Mane : Turkey Tail
Wood Ears, Jelly Ears, & Pig’s Ears

Slippery Jack : Jack O’Lantern : Charcoal Burner
Yellowfoot : Yellow Stainer : Velvet Shank

Dryad’s Saddle : Elfin Saddle : Scarlet Elf Cup
Saffron Milk Cap : Indigo Milk Cap : 
Panther Cap : Death Cap : Tiger Sawgill : Destroying Angel

Fairy Ring : Earthstar

Chanterelle & False Chanterelle
Morel & False Morel

a list just begun : a list of poetics : & poison 
                               divination : & deception 
                               delicious : & disgusting
magic : & medicinal 
decay : & rebirth 

a list : as old : as humanity 

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Factoid 1 – genetic mind warp

the categorisation of mushrooms

neither plants : nor animals they
belong instead : to the kingdom : fungi
along with : lichens, yeasts, mildews, molds, rusts, & smuts

indeed, we’re more closely related to fungi than plants
sharing some 50% of our DNA with shrooms