Mushroom magic

As the greens of summer wind down into carpets of gold and scarlet and shades of tan and purple, we become aware of the role of the fungi dozing beneath our feet.

Mushrooms, in all their multitudes of form, are another of nature’s gems, though they take a more relaxed route to a different kind of splendor.

In the same fashion as the flower evolves into the fruit, mushrooms arise from the soil as the fruit of fungi and distribute spores that form new fungi. Some call the process the foundation of the future, the supporting cycle of the basics.

This is a season of harvest and ending, but the emergence of the lowly yet magnificent mushroom reminds us that in the decay of autumn there sprouts beginning.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Mushroom magic."