In the game Twenty Questions, you begin with, “Is it an animal, mineral, or vegetable?” If the secret answer is “mushrooms,” it will help to add another kingdom. “Animal, mineral, vegetable, or . . . fungi?” 

About 50 years ago, biologists finally determined that a mushroom is neither plant nor animal. It’s not surprising that it took them that long to decide. The life cycle of a mushroom is a little mysterious.

Mushrooms grow from spores, not seeds. A single mushroom can release 16 million spores. Tiny spores germinate and grow fine white fibers called hyphae. Male and female hyphae join. Then they branch out into a network of super-thin threads. Altogether, the threads are called a mycelium. That’s the living and growing part of a mushroom. 

Hyphae can add half a mile of thread each day! All that growing takes nourishment. Does the thought of mushrooms cooked in butter make your mouth water? Mushrooms feel the same way about tiny bits of plant material. Hyphae release a digestive fluid that decomposes plant waste. The hyphae take some of that back in as food. Mushrooms clean up plant waste and make the soil richer. It turns out that’s the work God assigned to the members of the fungi kingdom.

Hyphae form into knots that produce the fruiting part that we call a mushroom. It begins as a tiny “button,” then a larger “pinhead.” Eventually the mycelium pushes the mushroom open to reveal the shape and parts we see above ground. 

A mushroom’s “roots” grow right up inside its cap and end under its umbrella shape. Those ends release spores from the gills on the underside of the cap. The whole cycle of life begins once more.