Mushrooms
Antiquity of Fungi
Fungi have existed from early geological ages. They flourished in the Carboniferous period, when the enormous beds of coal were formed, a space of time that occupied many millions of years. Bessey says that the oldest known member of the order of membrane fungi, Hymenomycetes, was called by the name of “Polyporites Bowmanii.” During the Tertiary period members of the genera now known under the names of Lenzites, Polyporus, and Hydnum were all in existence. It is interesting to know that even before the Tertiary period the undergrowth consisted of ferns and fleshy fungi. What a time of delight for the botanist! But there were no human beings in those days to roam amongst that luxuriant undergrowth, and only the fossil remains in the deposits of coal and peat are left to tell of their former existence.