The worldβs largest fungus collection may unlock the mysteries of carbon capture
8 June 2024 at 07:07
Itβs hard to miss the headliners at Kew Gardens. The botanical collection in London is home to towering redwoods and giant Amazonian water lilies capable of holding up a small child. Each spring, its huge greenhouses pop with the Technicolor displays of multiple orchid species.
But for the really good stuff at Kew, you have to look below the ground. Tucked underneath a laboratory at the gardenβs eastern edge is the fungarium: the largest collection of fungi anywhere in the world. Nestled inside a series of green cardboard boxes are some 1.3 million specimens of fruiting bodiesβthe parts of the fungi that appear above ground and release spores.