the very structure of the universe itself is now described by cosmologists as a vast cosmic web, crisscrossed with filaments of gas and clusters of galaxies.

A fragment of mycelium can regenerate an entire network, meaning that a single mycelial individual – if you’re brave enough to use that word – is potentially immortal.

The Latin root of the word ‘extravagant’ means ‘to wander outside or beyond’. It is a good word for mycelium, which ceaselessly wanders outside and beyond its limits, none of which are pre-set as they are in most animal bodies. Mycelium is a body without a body plan.

Mycelium is ecological connective tissue, the living seam by which much of the world is stitched into relation. In school classrooms children are shown anatomical charts, each depicting different aspects of the human body. One chart reveals the body as a skeleton, another the body as a network of blood vessels, another the nerves, another the

magine that you could pass through two doors at once. It’s inconceivable, yet fungi do it all the time.

When faced with a forked path, fungal hyphae don’t have to choose one or the other. They can branch and take both routes. One can confront hyphae with microscopic labyrinths and watch how they nose their way around. If obstructed, they branch.