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Mushrooms: Plants or
10
Animals?
At first glance, the question in the
chapter title may strike you as silly.
The closer one looks at a mushroom,
however, the harder it becomes to
answer this question. In a very strict
sense, mushrooms fall somewhere
between animals and plants. This
is why they are not classified under
either of the large kingdoms, but
rather make up their own kingdom,
the fungi. But you might say next
that a mushroom is very clearly a
plant. After all, mushrooms grow in
the ground, cannot move, and have
an appearance that is completely un-
like any animal. But do they look that much more similar to
a plant? What differentiates them so much from a plant that
makes them belong to a different group altogether?
Fungi — Specialized Recyclers
You learned in Chapter 5 how plants feed themselves. So how does a fungus get
its food, anyway? Fungi, unlike plants, are not capable of absorbing the sun's
energy and converting it into life energy. It's lacking the essential components for
this: the chloroplasts. Like us, fungi nourish themselves off of other organisms.
This is why many fungi are also scroungers, parasites, or even pathogens. But they
also take on one of the most important tasks on our planet: They decompose dead
organisms. So one could say that fungi are an important part of the cycle of life.
In this way, they also ensure that the stored-up life energy does not go to waste.
For the fungi then serve as food for other organisms. Just imagine how the forest
would look if nothing ever removed the old, dead trees!
A Unique Texture
In the case of a chanterelle mushroom, you can taste where it came from. Its
wonderfully earthy taste is an immediate reminder of the aromatic fragrance of a
forest in late summer. Many people don't like mushrooms. However, that's not so
much because of how mushrooms taste as their texture when you bite into one.
Their texture is quite different from that of a bell pepper or a leaf of lettuce. The
cause for this special consistency can already be figured out with the naked eye.
Under the microscope, it becomes clear once and for all what separates the fungus
from the plant leaf.
A tree trunk that is overgrown with tree fungi
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