FAMILY TIES

horticulturists and agronomists understood the interaction of plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi to be symbiotic; that is, a mutually beneficial relationship where the fungus, which can’t manufacture its own sugar, lives on that exuded by the plant roots. In return, it sends its long, white mycelial threads far out into the soil to gather water and nutrients and carry these back to feed the plant roots. It’s a nice, tidy relationship that, we now know, doesn’t come close to cataloging all that’s