In my opinion, we should celebrate the beauty of fungi more than we do. So to rectify that oversight, I’d like to share some of the fungi photos I’ve collected over the years. What better way to spend part of a Monday morning than admiring these incredible beings without which there could be no life on earth.

Fungi are so different from plants and animals, they rate their own biological kingdom (Fungi) and their own branch of scientific study (mycology). Their shapes can be as alien as the one pictured above.

Or they can adopt the structure of what most of us would call “normal” because that classic mushroom shape (cap and stem) is so familiar to us.

Some fungi appear and then disappear in a day, such as these “inkies” of the family Coprinopsis.

Others fan out from trees, providing food for browsing deer.

Some issue warnings to keep foragers away. Far away.

While others look like warm rolls fresh from the oven.

Some are shy.

While others are bold.

While I would not encourage you to blithely pick a shroom or two from your own backyard (you just never know), I would encourage you to appreciate the beauty and variety of these amazing, strange, and vibrant keepers of the earth.