Rare fungi emit smoke when they "hear" noise

Four mushroom-like plants in a crack in the wall of a storehouse in northeast China's Liaoning Province emit white smoke in the presence of loud noises.

The mushroom-like fungi appeared suddenly in Manchu Autonomous County of Xiuyan in Anshan City, according to the house owner, surnamed Sun. "I didn't notice them until last week," he said.

When Sun accidentally coughed, the biggest of the fungi -- about 20 centimeters in diameters -- let out some white smoke, he said. "I've invited all my friends and neighbors to the house, butno one can tell what the weird plants are or why they smoke."

The fungi are not umbrella-shaped like most other fungi that grow in a humid environment. Without a cap or a trunk, they stick on the cement wall with only tiny, string-like roots.

Whenever someone talks or coughs loudly in Sun's storehouse, even the smallest of the plants -- about three centimeters in diameters -- emits white smoke and "cowers" toward the wall, then turns back to normal after a minute or two.

An 80-year-old couple in Sun's neighborhood said they used to know a fungus that smoked when broken into pieces. "But that one looked quite different and I don't think they are the same thing,"said the old man.

Botanists from the Liaoning University say they have never heard of such a smoking fungus.

But Professor Liu Mingyu assumes the "smoke" is clusters of spores. "Sound waves cause vibrations that cause the spores to fall off the plants," he said. "These spores will probably take root wherever they go."

Source: Xinhua