HYPHAE

Very thin tubular structures branch, merge and entangle in the anarchic filigree of the mycelium: these are hyphae, which cover most of the planet’s soils. They’re usually microscopic, five times thinner than a human hair, the thickness of a cell. When they come together, they can form mushrooms, which are the fruiting body of fungi. In cases where the mycelium needs to pierce through barriers that were previously insurmountable, they develop special structures capable of penetrating pressures that would be unthinkable for any other species. If a hypha were as wide as our hand, it could lift an eight-tonne school bus.