50 Fascinating Fungal Facts: From Zombie Ants to Glittery Spores

The Vikings used urine-boiled fungus, known as touchwood, to create a smoldering material that allowed them to carry fire with them.

27. The parasitic Massospora fungus infects cicadas and replaces their genitals with a fungal stump. It also hijacks their brains with amphetamines and/or psilocybin, forcing them to mate non-stop and spread the fungal spores to infect other cicadas.

28. Podostroma cornu-dama is a mushroom native to Asia. It possesses such high toxicity that it can cause multiple organ failures, hair loss, and skin peeling, giving the illusion of radiation poisoning.

29. Mushrooms are the only non-animal food that contains vitamin D, and, just like humans, you can raise their vitamin D levels by exposing them to the sun.

30. Legos use itaconic acid, an enzyme that fungi produce. This enzyme is also present in UV coatings and printing ink. Additionally, Fukushima, Japan, used some radiation-loving mushrooms to clean up the nuclear disaster.

An outbreak of ergot, a fungus that infects rye and causes hallucinations, contributed to the Salem Witch trials.

32. Cryptococcus gattii is a rare fungus that can fatally spread to the brain and has been proliferating since 1999 inside people and animals at much higher rates on the coast of British Columbia in Canada.

33. Cordyceps sinensis, or caterpillar fungus, parasitizes the larvae of ghost moths and produces an edible fruiting body, which is valued in traditional Chinese medicine as an aphrodisiac.

34. There is a species of fungus, F. oxysporum, that has the ability to dissolve gold and excrete it onto its surface, encrusting itself in gold.

35. The Blue Mountains of Oregon are home to the largest living organism on earth. This particular honey fungus is spread over 2.4 miles (3.8 km).

Prototaxites, a fungus that went extinct more than 350 million years ago, covered the earth's landscape before trees and grass took over. It is believed to have reached almost 9 meters high and 1.37 meters in diameter.

37. Farmers cultivated champignons de Paris, also known as button mushrooms, in the 1800s in the catacombs under Paris, a burial site for 6 million people. Horse manure was used as a growth substrate.

38. Tippler's bane, or inky cap, is a mushroom that is safe to eat but can be lethal if consumed with alcohol afterward.

39. Gili Trawangan, a small island with a primarily Muslim population, has strict regulations on alcohol. Despite this, people openly and legally sell and regularly consume magic mushrooms on the island. People often consume them in milkshakes or eat them like potato chips.

40. A benign mold is added to the casing of traditionally dried-cured Italian meats to act as a natural preservative and antioxidant, preventing the meat from becoming rancid.

Sauternes is a white wine made with grapes infected by a fungus known as "noble rot." It causes the grapes to raisin on the vine, sweetening the end result. Traditionally, they ferment in barrels where a sulfur-dipped candle is burned to inhibit yeast and increase residual sugars.

42. There is a network of fungi (mycorrhizal fungi) that connects plants to each other at the roots. The fungi provide nutrients to the plants, while the plants supply the fungi with sugar. It has been aptly named the "Wood Wide Web."

43. Psathyrella aquatica is the only aquatic species of fungus currently recorded in science. You can find it in the rivers near Crater Lake in Oregon.

44. Laccaria bicolor is a symbiotic fungus that can turn regular pine trees into carnivorous plants that consume up to 90% of soil-dwelling insects. The fungus-infected roots can thus reach for their nitrogen, which the trees will use for growth.

45. Of all the mushroom-related deaths, consumption of Amanita makes up 95% of the fatalities, while 50% of them are from the death cap, which is commonly mistaken for edible mushroom varieties. Their toxins irreversibly destroy liver cell functions, and if the patient survives, a transplant will be required.

Wasp beer is a beer made using a yeast strain derived from an unconventional source: the body of a wasp. Beer made from such yeast can be made to a wide range of tastes, from a honey-like to a tangy or sour flavor.

47. The extremely rare Chorioactic Fungus has an unusual distribution, found only in a few forests in Japan and a few counties in Texas at roughly the same latitude. Its appearance earns it the nickname 'the Devil's Cigar.' As it matures, it splits into a star shape. This fungus is unique within its genus.

48. Mushrooms can create a slight breeze, even when the air is calm. They release water vapor, cooling the air and creating a convective current that gets the air moving, carrying spores away from the parent.

49. Chytrid fungus is an insanely deadly amphibian fungal disease that has wiped out many species of frogs and salamanders, with a nearly 100% mortality rate in amphibians.

50. Elaeomyxa cerifera is an iridescent purple fungus that bursts open and releases spores that look like glitter.