OVER 400 MILLION YEARS AGO, GIANT MUSHROOMS COVERED THE EARTH

[Judi Lynn]

BY ELIZABETH HLAVINKA/JUNE 14, 2022 10:55 AM EDT

The Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago, with complex life on the planet only beginning to form in the last 500 million years. That represents just 12% of Earth's history, according to Dynamic Earth. Some 400 million years ago, stems had begun to form on the Earth's surface, with roots and leaves evolving (via Earth Archives). There were wingless insects, millipedes, and worms, but mammals and animals with spines did not yet exist (via Live Science).

Although we've learned a lot about the formation of the Earth and what many of the dinosaurs and pre-human organisms looked like based on archeological evidence, much remains a mystery. One such mystery, an organism with an unusually massive size and oddly familiar, mushroom-like shape, stumped researchers for more than a century (via Live Science). It was only through an archaeological experiment in Saudi Arabia that scientists finally uncovered the answers in 2007.

THE 'MYSTERY LIFE-FORM'

This fossil was originally discovered by W.E. Logan in 1843, but it was not studied until the fossil was passed on to another scientist named J.W. Dawson in 1855, according to the Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. Dawson was immediately drawn to this specimen, which stood at 24 feet tall and measured three feet wide — about three times the size of a Christmas Tree (per Earth Archives). Initially, Dawson named the organism the Prototaxites, which means, "early yew," and thought because of its shape it was a conifer tree (via Review of Paleobotany and Palynology).

However, another scientist came along in 1872 who was adamant that the specimen was a type of algae and classified it as Nematophyton. Later, Dawson "remained adamant in his definition of Prototaxites until he illegitimately substituted the name Nematophyton for Prototaxites and denied that he had ever classed the genus with the conifers," (via Review of Paleobotany and Palynology). Regardless, the initial naming stuck, even though scientists went on in 1919 to believe the specimen was a fungus and not algae or conifer (via Signs of the Times).

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/894832/over-400-million-years-ago-giant-mushrooms-covered-the-earth/?utm_campaign=clip

[burrowowl]

1. I love mushrooms,

Would have to wait a long time to have them in omelets or with steaks.

[denbot]

2. That leaves fungus's possibly hundreds of millions of years domineering terrestrial life.

My toes tell me they have been fighting back as long as I can an remember.

[Javaman]

3. we have actual pictures of them!!!

[SWBTATTReg]

4. I enjoy Fungus when picked correctly (the right kind), prepared correctly, and served. Especially

the wild edible kinds that grow on one's ranchette/miniature ranch that I had by the state park (not immediately by the park, but close enough).

Believe it or not, my neighbors and I had to drive away/scare away scavengers who tried to sneak in during certain periods of the year (I guess when certain kinds were available) and steal/harvest our wild mushrooms.

Can't have anything I swear, before someone wants to come in and steal them.

So, be aware, and be cautious, don't let anyone else know where these fungi are at on your property, or you'll lose them (they'll overharvest them or worse). My friends and I all have a pact, that none of us would ever reveal the sites of our prized fungi on our places (we exchanged mushrooms as some of us didn't like particular kinds and others did, so we had an informal exchange).