Dial 911 on the fungiphone

摘要

Gardeners, keep an eye on your tomato plants. There's no knowing what they are plotting underground.Some 80 per cent of plants are colonised by fungi that form the familiar network of fine white threads that hang off many roots. The threads, called mycorrhizae, take in water and minerals from the soil, and hand some over to the plant in exchange for nutrients. Now it seems plants use them to communicate too.