The flower language of King Oyster Mushroom is "Universe"? Will this universe taste good if it is stir-fried?

A few days ago, a hot search caught my attention: the flower language of Pleurotus eryngii is universe . What the hell? Can it be more outrageous?

In fact, mushrooms may really be able to talk and communicate with each other. If you want to say it is "spore language" or "mushroom language", that's fine too.

Mushroom: I'm really not a cobra, please stop stepping on me! ｜reddit

A recent study found that members of the fungus kingdom actually seem to be able to "talk", and there is a "fungal vocabulary" with a vocabulary of up to 50 words , of which there are about 15 to 20 common words.

What are you talking about? Electrical pulse signal

The exclusive language of mushrooms is actually the regular electrical pulse signals emitted by fungal mycelium .

Researcher Andrew Adamatzky is a British computer scientist who had previously discovered the existence of electrical signals in fungi - regular electrical pulse activities of high or low frequencies can be observed in Pleurotus djamor and Ganoderma resinaceum.

Red oyster mushroom, edible, also cultivated in my country｜wikimedia commons

Are electrical impulses the language of fungi, like the dances performed by bees, the scents emitted by plants, and the pheromones of ants?

Adamatsky has done some preliminary research and found that fungi can spontaneously generate electrical pulses without external stimulation. The amount of information carried by these electrical signals is shorter than human language, but the information contained in them is very complex and diverse .

Therefore, he is more suspicious that the electrical pulses emitted by fungi may be a mysterious language that humans have not yet understood, and that fungi can use this language to transmit environmental information and communicate their own status within the mycelium network.

Fungi vocabulary list has only 50 words

In order to understand the mysterious language of mushrooms, Adamatsky selected four higher fungi, Schizophyllum commune, Cordyceps militaris, Flammulina velutipes, and Omphalotus nidiformis, as research objects in this latest study, and used the concepts and methods of algorithmic information theory to analyze the linguistic characteristics of their electrical pulse signals.

From top to bottom, the microelectrodes are: Cordyceps militaris, Schizophyllum corylifolium, and Agaricus tricholoma | References [1]

First, the electrical activity signals in the fungi are recorded in time sequence using microelectrodes, and then the electrical signal sequence is converted into binary information based on the presence or absence of electrical pulse spikes, just like a black and white barcode. If this is really the language of fungi, then the series of binary barcodes may be the poems written by fungi.

The converted electrical signal looks like a barcode | Reference [1]

The researchers regarded an electrical pulse spike as a "letter", and continuous electrical pulses within a certain time interval as a "word". Different combination patterns of multiple electrical pulse signals formed the basis of fungal words.

The length distribution pattern of these fungal "words" is very similar to that of many European languages, and together they form a fungal vocabulary of 50 "words" . Syntax analysis shows that different combinations of electric pulses can be further assembled into more complex "sentences", but only about 15 to 20 core words are the most common combination patterns in the fungal electric pulse signal records. It turns out that fungal language is also divided into common words and rare words.

Based on the concepts and standards in algorithmic information theory, the researchers analyzed the information complexity of this fungal dictionary and found that the electrical signals of fungi are not simply random combinations, but have a certain complexity, which may really mean that fungi are transmitting information in a regular manner .

However, it is too advanced to directly interpret the electrical impulse signals of fungi as language . If scientists can further analyze the meaning of these fungal sentences, compile their dictionaries and deconstruct their grammar, and translate mushroom language into words that humans can understand, then it can probably become a true "spore language".

So what is the relationship between King Oyster Mushroom and the "universe"?

Pleurotus eryngii belongs to the genus Pleurotus of the family Pleurotus in the order Agaricales. Other edible mushrooms in the same genus include Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus eryngii, Pleurotus eryngii, and Pleurotus citrinum.

Plump King Oyster Mushroom｜asiamir.com

The main edible part of the King Oyster Mushroom is the thick "stalk" of the fruiting body, while the small and thin "cap" is dispensable. However, as the key part for dispersing spores, the cap is more valuable for the reproduction of the King Oyster Mushroom itself. Unlike the cap of the oyster mushroom, which is always tilted to one side, the cap of the King Oyster Mushroom, which is light brown to dark black and gray, can be tilted or straight. When the King Oyster Mushroom is young, the cap is still a normal convex mushroom shape, but as it matures, it will gradually become flat or even concave, forming a " skin plunger " shape - unfortunately the stem is too thick.

You can see the "mental journey" of the growth of the mushroom cap from these different sizes of King Oyster Mushroom. | Wiki Commons

King oyster mushrooms are native to the Mediterranean coast, Central Europe, West Asia and even India. They are not distributed in China or even the whole of East Asia. They are an absolute "imported product". Friends born in the 1980s should also find that King oyster mushrooms suddenly appeared on our dining table like a magic trick. In fact, we had no chance to eat this Western mushroom until Japan developed a set of efficient King oyster mushroom cultivation technology in 1993. The successful promotion of this technology has also made this mushroom enter thousands of households. It is only a matter of time.

The texture of King Oyster Mushroom is firm, rich, crisp and chewy, and it feels a bit like abalone . Unlike many fragrant mushrooms, King Oyster Mushroom has almost no smell when it is raw, and it will emit a light almond-like fragrance only when it is cooked.

King oyster mushroom is such a versatile ingredient that you can never go wrong with any cooking method. From slicing and grilling, frying in butter, to hand-tearing and stir-frying, to stewing in sauce, it is delicious no matter how you cook it. Simple cooking methods can highlight the fragrance of the king oyster mushroom itself, while complex sauces can make the springy and smooth king oyster mushroom even more delicious.

Stir-fried King Oyster Mushroom with Bacon | Tuchong Creative

This mushroom can accommodate all cooking methods in the universe. Its "spore language" is the language of the universe. It barely makes sense, right?

References

[1] Adamatzky, A. (2022). Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity. Royal Society Open Science, 9(4), 211926.

[2] Adamatzky, A. (2018). On spiking behavior of oyster fungi Pleurotus djamor. Scientific reports, 8(1), 1-7.

[3] Adamatzky, A., & Gandia, A. (2021). On electrical spiking of Ganoderma resinaceum. Biophysical Reviews and Letters, 1-9.

[4] Mahdi Dehshibi, M., & Adamatzky, A. (2020). Electrical activity of fungi: Spikes detection and complexity analysis. arXiv e-prints, arXiv-2008.

[5] Do mushrooms really use language to talk to each other? A fungi expert investigates https://theconversation.com/do-mushrooms-really-use-language-to-talk-to-each-other-a-fungi-expert-investigates-181079

Author: Silkworm Boy, Old Cat

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