♦ NOT YOUR AVERAGE SPORE STORE. BROWSE OUR SITE AND ENJOY THE WORLD OF UNIQUE ITW genetics ♦
On a collection trip to Guyana in 2006, botanist Kenneth Wurdack was strolling along an airstrip at Kaieteur National Park when he noticed something unusual about the flowers on two species of yellow-eyed grasses. Unlike the species’ typical blooms, they were a more...
Fungi are everywhere—they grow in the soil, in petri dishes, and if we’re not careful, on the fruit in the back of the fridge. But did you know it can grow inside plants too? Yes, really! Of course, there are fungal pathogens, which can parasitize a plant, sometimes...
The dentist adjusts the set and setting of his drill. My teeth are numb but my body, mind and soul feel it all. I’ve eaten two grams of albino penis envy (APES) mushrooms, the fruit of spores once dormant, and I’m about to get fillings. Dentist calls me an interesting...
Mycoheterotrophic ParasitismBY: @C_Y_SPAMIn school, we’re taught that plants make their own food from carbon dioxide, water, and energy from the sun thanks to a green, sun-catching pigment called chlorophyll, right? While that’s entirely true for about 99% of plants,...
Two newly discovered fungi species have a similarly macabre mode of action: They eat flies alive while using them to drop spores on new victims.The related species, Strongwellsea tigrinae and Strongwellsea acerosa, attack the fly species Coenosia tigrina and Coenosia...
Photo: Joey Santore (pogonia ophioglossoides)Orchids + FungusesBy: C_Y_SpamIf you can believe it, until about the 60’s, the scientific community considered the immense world of fungi to be a mere offshoot of the plant kingdom. Though we now know much more about the...
Maria was believed to be born in 1894-98 in the mountainous Mexican district of Huatla, but no records to prove it. Born into a poor family with ancestral shamans, she quickly took a liking to her grandparents who helped train her in the ways of communicating with God...
Photo by Sean Barefield (@mojave_cerastes)Bufo Alvarius, “The Colorado River Toad”, is a fascinating amphibian found in Northern Mexico and the Southwest parts of the United States. According to PBS Nature Works, “It is 3-7 inches in length and is the largest native...
Santa Claus’ origins are very hazy, some say it was Coca-Cola’s marketing push, old Greek legend, and some Norse folktales among countless other stories. The truth is that the modern-day Santa has become an amalgamation of many myths and legends, and we are diving...
Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungus, a relationship every single plant in nature relies on and benefits from. Mycorrhiza fungus, starting life as microscopic spores, is filament-like in structure, it can be thinner than hair or as thick as...