These beloved (sometimes delicious) fungi were filmed using a 2’x3′ light-controlled box.

via Smithsonian

Reiser filmed the mushrooms in his special light-controlled box anywhere from two and five days, capturing an image every eight minutes for the fastest growing mushrooms, and an image every sixteen minutes for the slower mushrooms. The 10,000 or so pictures put together reveal a dramatic life cycle that usually goes unseen.

But what Reiser captured in his video is only part of the mushroom’s story. Mushrooms are not a plant—they are part of a fungus, much of which is hidden underground. Fungi are made of mycelium, a network of fine white filaments akin to the roots of a plant. The mushroom is just the fruiting body, similar to an apple on a tree. But unlike plants that grow through photosynthesis, fungi get their food from digesting organic material. That is why they are often spotted on rotting wood and decaying plants.

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