Mushrooms: What are they, really?

Mushrooms were once lumped in with plants, and they stayed there well after science knew better.

But if a fungus is not a plant… is it a closer relative of yours than you might've thought?

With millions of species on Earth, and many that live inside you, it seems important to know about the kingdom of fungi.

Featuring:

• Tom May, senior principal research scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria; and co-author of Planet Fungi 
• Grace Boxshall, PhD student at the University of Melbourne and visiting junior research fellow at the University of New South Wales
• Georgina Hold, Professor of Gut Health at the School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales
• Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher, fungal and plant ecologist at the University of New England

Production:

• Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
• Rebecca McLaren, Producer
• Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer

This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.

Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.