Plants and Fungi

I thought weeding my yard was hard enough. Now it looks like I have weeds making their way indoors. I found this in my basement window.

All of the heavy rain has resulted in some interesting mushrooms growing in Minneapolis yards. These three seemed to pop up in just a few days, and they seem to be getting bigger by the hour.

I'm guessing it is an example of Macrolepiota procera, or parasol mushrooms. If this identification is accurate then they are edible. If, on the other hand, it is Chlorophyllum molybdites, then it is a toxic mushroom often confused with the edible version.

The subject of plants and fungi gets me thinking about how much biology has changed in my lifetime. It was just 1969 when plants and fungi were grouped together in the same kingdom. For many years fungi had their own kingdom, but now there is an effort to group them together with animals in a kingdom called Opisthokonta. In terms of biology, these mushrooms actually have a lot more in common with you and me than they do with the grass surrounding them.