Fungi Fun

In 4^th grade little Ricky Bayless sat at his desk, feet not quite touching the floor. I opened my Science book and studied the black and white pages about the Kingdoms of life forms. I learned that a living thing was either a plant or an animal; Very black and white indeed. I raised my little hand and asked, “What about Mushrooms?”

We never really talked about that. It’s not that my 4^th grade teacher didn’t know that Fungi have been designated their own Kingdom, it’s just that my elementary school apparently hadn’t purchased new science books since the year 1735.

See Historical chart below…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_(biology)#Modern_system_of_classification

Linnaeus 1735[32]	Haeckel 1866[33]	Chatton 1925[34]	Copeland 1938[35]	Whittaker 1969[36]	Woese et al. 1990[37]	Cavalier-Smith 1998[30]
2 kingdoms	3 kingdoms	2 empires	4 kingdoms	5 kingdoms	3 domains	6 kingdoms
(not treated)	Protista	Prokaryota	Monera	Monera	Bacteria	Bacteria
					Archaea
		Eukaryota	Protoctista	Protista	Eucarya	Protozoa
						Chromista
Vegetabilia	Plantae		Plantae	Plantae		Plantae
				Fungi		Fungi
Animalia	Animalia		Animalia	Animalia		Animalia

I’ll stop right there with the science of Fungi.

Recent weather patterns have stimulated an astounding display of Mold and Mushroom activity.

My first new finds in the backyard drove me to go on “Mushroom Safari” this month. The more I looked, the more I saw, and the more mind-boggled I became. Not as a scientist, but more like the fourth-grader inside me. Look at these photos with your own child’s eye view and give them the names that seem to fit them best, like “Ooo”, “Ahhh”, or “Eeew”.