Fungus Fact Friday

Category: That’s Not A Fungus!

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Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#224: Pythium insidiosum, Pythiosis

It’s a new year and already a fungus-like disease is making national headlines.  Four wild ponies on Chincoteague were euthanized due to a disease called “Swamp Cancer” on December 28, 2018, bringing the total Chincoteague ponies killed by the disease in 2018 up to seven.  Swamp Cancer is not a cancer at all; the disease is caused by the oomycete Pythium insidiosum.  If you have a pet you may have heard of this disease before: P. insidiosum occasionally infects dogs and cats, often killing its hosts.  Rarely, P. insidiosum causes disease in humans.  P. insidiosum normally decays plant matter in flooded tropical to sub-tropical environments, so it is most often contracted in warm stagnant water.  Because it reproduces only in those environments, P. insidiosum cannot spread from one animal to another.

Sirex noctilio female 0

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#169: Sirex Woodwasp

Sirex noctilio, known as the “Sirex woodwasp” or “European woodwasp” (sometimes spelled “wood wasp”), is an invasive species that attacks most species of pine trees. Interestingly, the insect is dependent upon the fungus Amylostereum aerolatum to complete its life cycle. The Sirex woodwasp carries the fungus with it to new trees and in return the fungus becomes a meal for the Sirex woodwasp’s larvae.

#112: Monotropa uniflora, Ghost Plant, Indian Pipe, or Corpse Plant 0

Fungus Fact / Literature Connection / That's Not A Fungus!

#112: Monotropa uniflora, Ghost Plant, Indian Pipe, or Corpse Plant

On September 30, 1882, Emily Dickinson wrote the following in a letter to Mabel Loomis Todd: That without suspecting it you should send me the preferred flower of life, seems almost supernatural, and the sweet glee that I felt at meeting it, I could confide to none—I still cherish the clutch with which I bore it from the ground when a wondering child, an unearthly booty, and maturity only enhances mystery, never decreases it— The previous week, she had received a gift from Mabel Todd: a painting of Monotropa uniflora.  These ethereal plants happened to rank among Emily Dickinson’s favorite wildflowers, thus prompting the response above.  In the same letter, Dickinson gave Todd the poem “A Route of Evanescence” in return for the painting with a note explaining, “I cannot make an Indian Pipe but please accept a Humming Bird.”  Many people have likened the Ghost Plant to the reclusive...

#111: Stemonitis spp., Chocolate Tube Slime Molds or Tree Hair 0

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#111: Stemonitis spp., Chocolate Tube Slime Molds or Tree Hair

“Hair Growing on Wood – Believe it or Not” proclaimed one of the exhibits at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not pavilion during the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. The curious organism on display was Stemonitis fusca, which belongs to a group of organisms commonly known as “Chocolate Tube Slime Molds” or “Pipe Cleaner Slime Molds.”  However, thanks to its moment of fame 82 years ago, “Tree Hair” is also an acceptable common name for these species.

#096: The Great Famine of Ireland and Phytophthora infestans 0

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#096: The Great Famine of Ireland and Phytophthora infestans

In celebration of Independence Day, I have decided to discuss a fungus-related event which significantly impacted the history of the United States (Don’t worry; I will get to the remaining mushroom toxins in the next few weeks). America is a country of immigrants, so on the day that we celebrate the founding of our country, it only seems fitting that we take a moment to remember how immigration has shaped our history.

#054: Oomycota (Water Molds and Downy Mildews) 1

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#054: Oomycota (Water Molds and Downy Mildews)

The Oomycota (literally “egg fungi”) are remarkable organisms because they mimic fungi on a cellular level. They are heterotrophic (get energy from their surroundings) organisms, exhibit filamentous growth, digest their substrate before absorbing it, and produce sexual and asexual spores.  For these reasons, the Oomycota were once classified as fungi.  They have since been removed from Kingdom Fungi and placed in Kingdom Protista, Chromista, Straminopila, or whatever name it’s going by today.  That means it is most closely related to diatoms and brown algae (like kelp).  At first this does not seem like a logical grouping because most of these organisms are autotrophic (make their own food).  However, there are a few characteristics of the Oomycota that make them more similar to protists than to fungi.  For one, the Oomycota have cell walls composed of cellulose, glycan, and similar molecules.  Second, they primarily live as diploids (two copies of each...

#053: Slime Molds 6

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#053: Slime Molds

On this first anniversary of Fungus Fact Friday, I would like to introduce a new topic which I have labeled, “That’s Not a Fungus!” Kingdom Fungi has gone through a lot of changes over the years.  Many organisms that were once included in the kingdom have since been exiled.  There are two reasons why I think these organisms are worth discussing in FFF.  First, they were once studied by mycologists, in some cases contributing more to our understanding of fungi than the fungi themselves.  Second, it is important to know what a fungus is as well as what a fungus is not.  Slime molds are no longer considered fungi because really the only things those two groups have in common are a similar life cycle and “strange” fruiting bodies.  Slime molds do not have cell walls and grow as neither hyphae nor yeast.  They also engulf (phagocytose) their food before...