THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Fungi

Lisa Karen Miller

         Two sentries stand guard over the colony’s entrance.  A foot soldier approaches.  Sensing he carries a contraband substance, they fall upon him, tear his head off, then throw it and his body into a mass grave. The sentries then make the ultimate sacrifice. 

          They commit suicide.

          The sentries?  Carpenter ants. The substance?  Mycelium, or fungus. We know the fruit of this vast underground network by another name: Mushroom.

          After a series of extinction events on the planet, all plants and animals died.  Fungi inherited the earth. Dwelling in the liminal region between plant and animal, they inhabit their own biological kingdom. According to mycologist Paul Stamets, “Mycelium is the mother of us all.”

          The most common species on earth, these underground fungal networks are nothing short of amazing.

          The reason the carpenter ants so scrupulously protect their colonies is “zombie fungi.”  By hijacking ants, the fungus disperses its spores to continue its lifecycle.

         Once infected, the ant loses its fear of heights and climbs the nearest plant.  The fungus forces it to clamp its jaws around the plant in a death grip. The mycelium grows from its feet, stitching it to the plant, then digests the body and sprouts a stalk from the head. The stalk showers spores on ants below.

          Scientists are still studying how the fungus accomplishes this without entering the ant’s brain.

          A friendlier type of fungus ferments corn for making bourbon. Penicillin, derived from fungi, kills bacteria.  During World War II, the British had access to it; the Germans and Japanese did not. Civil War soldiers often got a piece of moldy bread for their wounds.

          If you notice, after a lot of rain mushrooms often spring up in rings.  These “fairy circles” are where the little folk come to dance. In Holland, they are where the Devil rests his milk churn. Animals grazing there will give putrefied milk.

          In Netflix’s Fantastic Fungi, Stamets relates the story of how he cured himself of stuttering using psilocybin, the substance contained in magic mushrooms.  Scientists are now studying its use in treating Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

           In clinical trials for anxiety and depression, sometimes a single dose is sufficient to improve quality of life.  For Big Pharma, this is a not an attractive business model.  They prefer to sell you a pill a day for the rest of your life.

          As we disconnect psilocybin from its unfortunate hippie connotations, we are realizing it has the potential to relieve much human suffering.

          Fungi: they truly are fantastic.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller