ZAP’S FACTS!
FUNGI

A single mushroom can fire off a trillion microscopic spores.

Spores are how fungi spread. A puffball can spit out billions in one shot of brown smoke.

2 min read
A single mushroom can fire off a trillion microscopic spores.
THE FULL STORY

A mushroom is basically a spore-launching device. Underneath the cap, you’ll find rows of gills, pores or teeth - all packed with millions of microscopic spores. When ripe, the mushroom releases them in clouds that drift away on the breeze.

The numbers are absurd. A regular field mushroom might release 16 billion spores. A giant puffball can hold an estimated 7 trillion. If even a tiny fraction of those landed in the right spot and grew into new mushrooms, the world would be carpeted in fungi in minutes. Almost none of them do.

Spores are so small and so common that they’re floating around all the time. Right now, in every cubic metre of air around you, there are hundreds of mushroom spores. You breathe in dozens with every breath. Don’t worry - almost all of them are harmless and just drift back out again.

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