GoKawiilA rogue mushroom native to Asia is ripping through North American forests, after escaping from cultivation. As it runs riot, mushroom enthusiasts are rescuing the native fungi in its path.
The razor blade of the newly unpacked surgical scalpel glints in the late Autumn light. I spray alcohol sanitiser on the work surface, rub my hands religiously, and try not to sneeze.
I am about to clone a mushroom – a pristine grey oyster, its smooth cap the colour of a cloud just about to burst.
This is not how I imagined my first time cloning something would be. I'm not in a sterile laboratory – I'm in a tent in a muddy field in Sussex in the UK with dozens of other campers, at the annual All Things Fungi Festival. Many are wearing furry mushroom-themed hats or jumpers. A few metres away a medicine woman chimes a gong as she leads a fungi-themed "sound bath" session.
But not all mushrooms are to be celebrated here. There is one so vigorous and invasive that it has been banned from the festival altogether: the golden oyster mushroom. This fungus has torn its way through North American forests and spread its spores across Europe from Italy to Hungary.