Nellie

It seems to me that the “mycelium network” metaphor is based on two cherry-picked ideas. The first is that mycelium is by nature a magnanimous organism. It is not. It is the thallus of multicellular fungi, some of which are parasites, some saprobes, some mycorrhizae. Mycelium has become a stand in word for a mycorrhizal fungus and its role in a

It's the mycorrhizal fungi that people are referring to when they speak of the mycelium network—whether they know it or not. But it’s helpful to know, I think, that a mycelium is the thallus--an undifferentiated body--of many multicellular fungi including parasites. Which means the “mycelial network” metaphor is less about the mycelium and more

Of the many fungal species, some are single celled, like yeasts, and others are multicellular, like molds and the species that produce mushrooms. The multicellular form of a fungus is called the mycelium (plus there are other multicellular structures that occur, like sclerotia or rhizomorphs but we are not talking about those today). A mycelium is

I’ve noticed that the hackneyed use of the term mycelium, which refers to the feeding structure of certain fungal species, has become virtually synonymous with the healing powers of helping each other.

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.