What's really cool is that mushrooms are the sex organs of mycorrhizal fungi--tiny fungi that have a symbiotic relationship with plants. They grow around and into a plant's roots. Many common plants cannot survive without them, because the fungi break down and supply nutrients that the plants need, but cannot directly extract themselves. Plants also "communicate" through mychorrhizal fungi. A tree that gets attacked by insects will send out a signal that the mycorrhizai transmit to other trees, causing those trees to change in a way that detracts the insects. I had no idea about any of this, until my daughter did a science fair project on it a few years ago.

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