This stuff looks and feels like roots. Some gardeners (see 12/8/08 entry on this blog http://www.sky-bolt.com/garden/) describe it as a fungus. Wikipedia's entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza) makes me think that it's sort of in between a root and a fungus. It's an association, rather than an animal, mineral, or vegetable. I trust Wikipedia these days over just about everything else on the Internet.
2 comments:
Those probably are roots. Roots often grow close to the soil level and are possibly from a near-by tree attracted to the rich nutrients leached from the pile. This has been observed in heavily mulched avocado trees.
Mike, if you're right, and I really have no reason to doubt you, that means I've come full circle. I thought that stuff was roots, but got so excited when net-surfing caused me to think it might be fungi, and then REALLY got excited when I thought I'd discovered a sort-of new life form. I'll keep searching for "the truth." As if there is truth. I heard someone on the radio say yesterday that "facts are simply what humans agree are facts."
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