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Or could a mushroom also be synonymous with its fungal roots, otherwise known as mycelium, from which the fruiting bodies sprout?

Kew's Fungarium, an archive beneath the west London garden, is one of the world's biggest and most important collections of fungal diversity.

The world of the series is plenty bleak with the ever present threat of the fungal infection that turns human hosts into ravenous, zombie-like creatures.

In certain groups of centipedes, Machado writes, "this apparently increases offspring survival, because without the mother the eggs and nymphs always die from fungal attack or unknown reasons."

Whether speaking about the exquisite wonders of fungal life or about science funding woes, his tone was sober, frank, and scientific.