Nutrition type

Parasite

Parasitic fungi are organisms that take their nutrients not from the soil or dead wood but from the body of a living host, harming it directly and often leading to its slow (or rapid) death.

The hosts of such fungi are most often trees, insects or even other fungi.

24 species in the database.

The best-known parasitic fungi

Many mushrooms we happily gather in the forest or use in medicine are in fact ruthless predators:

1. Honey fungus (Armillaria mellea): This is the best-known and most dangerous parasite of the forest. Its mycelium, in the form of black "bootlaces" (rhizomorphs), gets under the bark of living trees (especially weakened or old ones) and starts drawing sap from the cambium. Honey fungus can kill a living tree within a few years. When the tree dies, the honey fungus does not die with it — it switches to a saprotrophic stage and keeps "finishing off" the dead stump.

2. Dryad's saddle (Cerioporus squamosus): This handsome edible mushroom often settles on living walnut, ash and maple trees through wounds in the bark, causing intense heart rot and the death of the tree.

3. Chaga (Inonotus obliquus): This famous medicinal mushroom is a cancerous tumor of birch. The parasitic fungus enters the tree and lives there for up to 20 years, drawing out useful substances. When the tree finally dies and falls, the chaga completes its cycle.

4. Cordyceps (Cordyceps): This is an exotic parasitic fungus that infects insects (for example, ants). The mycelium grows through the body of the living insect, takes control of its nervous system, forces it to climb a tall blade of grass, then kills the insect and grows out of its head.

Why are parasites important for the forest?

Despite their destructive nature, David Arora stresses that parasitic fungi play a critical role in the ecosystem. They act as "cleaners", or natural regulators of the forest. They take out old, diseased or overcrowded trees, freeing up space and sunlight for young plants and so constantly renewing the forest.

Questions and answers

Is it dangerous to eat a parasitic mushroom?

It is perfectly safe. The fact that a mushroom (honey fungus, for example) killed a tree does not make it poisonous to people. Honey fungus simply uses the wood as a source of carbohydrates.

How do you tell a parasite from a saprotroph if both grow on trees?

Parasites always attack a LIVING tree (its bark, leaves, roots). Saprotrophs (for example, the oyster mushroom or the velvet shank) settle only on DEAD wood (fallen branches, dry stumps, standing dead trees with no signs of life). But many parasites (like honey fungus) can be either one, depending on circumstances.

Sources

1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
4.Index Fungorum