Recently, Ruth and I travelled down south on the Norwegian coastline to visit friends and for me, also to have the opportunity to search for fungi of the enigmatic phylum
Entorrhizomycota, a tiny tiny biotic phylum comprising three genera and around 20 species (thus far). They have a history going back millions of years and specialise on parasitizing rushes and sedges, on the roots of which they form galls and swellings. The spores are passively dispersed when the affected roots die off later (by natural courses). The subterranean existence and the fact that the host plant seems to be unbothered by the presence of the fungus has lead to most occurrences of the
Enterorrhiza go undetected. You actually have to dig up the plant and wash out the roots to find the galls, which often are tiny just a few mm in length. Precisely the kind of challenge that appeals to my nerdier side
Here I am washing the roots of the rush
Juncus articulatus (not to be confused by the big clumps of
J. effusus in the foreground) and indeed found galls of
Enterorrhiza casparyana on its roots. On such occasions standing in dirt and foul, smelling water is of minor concern.
