Mushrooms make fairy rings
John E. Peterson, Special to the Gazette
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I know I have written one of these columns about fairy rings before, but it was a long time ago. Since mushrooms and fairy rings have recently been appearing around here, I have been told that I should tell about them again. I would do that, if I had my way.
Actually, I should have produced this column a few weeks ago. It should have been before the fairy rings and mushrooms appeared. They usually come in the late summer or early fall. They did this year and they probably will be all gone by the time you read this.
What is a fairy ring? It is a circle of mushrooms. Why is it called a fairy ring? Because the people of long ago had stories of how fairies and elves sat on the mushrooms and planned nasty things to do to us humans. It was a circle of seats for groups to sit on and talk.
Some people call mushrooms toadstools. Why? For a similar reason. The old story is that toads used to sit on them. Personally, I have never seen fairies or elves or toads sitting on mushrooms, but those are the stories.
So how is a fairy ring produced? We can see the mushroom, but the main fungal body is under the ground and microscopic. The mushrooms each produce millions of spores. Think of a spore as a single-cell microscopic seed. The spores are blown all over. One will drop on the soil and start the process under the soil.
A cell grows out of the spore. It divides so there are two cells end-to-end. That continues and a string of cells are formed. Soon it branches. They are called hyphae. Before long, there is a circular mass of these hyphae. This fungal body is called mycelium.
This circular mass of mycelium under the soil continues to get bigger. After a few years, it will produce a mushroom or two or three. No fairy ring yet. Just mushrooms.
As the circular mycelium gets bigger, it produces mushrooms on its edges and we can begin to see the circle, or ring, effect. Over the years, it will get to be a bigger and bigger ring of mushrooms. Now, we see it as a fairy ring.
Rocks in the soil, a sidewalk, a road or any other barrier in the soil may break the full circle. That is why we often see only half-circles or other partial circles. Sometimes the ring effect is no longer there when the mushrooms are produced.
Fairy rings have been known to be miles in diameter and hundreds of years old. Of course, there will be breaks in the ring because of those things in the soil. And you have to see such huge ones from up on a hill or in an airplane.
Now a bit about what we may see about fairy rings in addition to the actual mushrooms. Those on the lawns or in grassy fields will often be greener in the center of the ring, greener than the grass around it. Why is that?
It is because the mycelium, the cells, in the center of the ring have gotten old and died. Under the ground, it is now actually a ring of hyphae rather than a solid circle. As the cells die, the chemicals in them act like a fertilizer. They are good for the grass and the grass grows bigger and greener.
On very big fairy rings, this greener and bigger grass will form a ring of its own. These rings of greener grass are often seen without the mushrooms, but they are visible. They are there because the mycelium and its fertilizer effects in the middle of the ring are now gone. The activity is out nearer the edge of the rings. The activity under the ground is at work. Even without the mushrooms, it is a visible ring.
So, fairy rings can be not only rings of mushrooms, but they can be rings of green, bigger plants. The activity under the ground, that of the fungal hyphae, the mycelium, brings it about.
In summary, fairy rings are circles of mushrooms. The mushrooms are the spore producers, the reproductive structures. They are produced by an underground circle of fungal cells called mycelium. They are produced on the edges of that circle several years after the circle starts.
The mycelial cells in the center of the circle die later and it becomes a ring. Those dead cells in the center and their chemicals act as a fertilizer for the plants on the soil surface. This process goes on and on and the ring becomes bigger and bigger.
There, then, is my fairy ring story. The next time you see one, see if you can see the fairies sitting on the mushrooms. I never have, so I would like you to tell me if you can see them. You would, if I had my way.
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Thanks once again John for explaining a mystery that puzzled my girls. We have had several Fairy rings in our lawn the last couple of years that are very visible. The green rings are all in areas where trees were cleared to make room from the house and yard.
October 15, 2009 at 11:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )