Top 10 facts about... mushrooms
OCTOBER is Mushroom Month and plenty of recipes and tips may be found at www.justaddmushrooms.com.
Top 10 Facts About Mushrooms
1. Mushrooms differ from other plants in that they contain no chlorophyll. Because of this, some would argue that they are not plants at all.
2. A slug can smell a mushroom two metres away.
3. A person who studies mushrooms and fungi is a mycologist. The Italian mycologist Bruno Cetto (1921-1991) described 2,147 types of mushroom.
4. A mushroom-eater is a mycophagist, fear of mushrooms is mycophobia and a mushroom-lover is a mycophile.
5. The mushroom museum in Zagreb, Croatia, contains about 5,000 live exhibits of mushrooms.
The Tempest is the only Shakespeare play that mentions mushrooms
6. According to hieroglyphics of 4,600 years ago, the ancient Egyptians considered mushrooms to be the plant of immortality.
7. The official state mushroom of Minnesota is the morel. The official state mushroom of Oregon is the Pacific golden chanterelle.
8. China produces around 70 per cent of the world’s mushrooms.
9. The Tempest is the only Shakespeare play that mentions mushrooms.
10. Roman Emperors Tiberius and Claudius, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Charles V of France and Pope Clement VII all died of mushroom poisoning.
