Growing Over Night

When speaking of rapid growth, we often use either of two comparisons, “growing like a weed”, or “growing like a mushroom”. Both develop rapidly. However, in a mushroom we cannot observe its progress, not because it grows over night, but because the entire fruiting body—which we eventually see —develops in every detail underground. Usually this requires several days just as a flower unfolds from bud to blossom. After a heavy rainfall, the embryonic mushroom absorbs a large amount of water,...