Mycelium Running

{{Short description|2005 book by Paul Stamets}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

| image = Mycelium Running.jpg

| caption = Front cover of first edition

| author = Paul Stamets

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| subject = Mycoremediation

| publisher = Ten Speed Press

| release_date = 2005

| media_type = Print (trade paperback)

| pages = 339

| isbn = 978-1-58008-579-3

| congress = QK601 .S73 2005

| oclc = 60603170

| dewey = 579.5163

| preceded_by = MycoMedicinals: An Informational Treatise on Mushrooms

| followed_by =

}}

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World is the sixth book written by American mycologist Paul Stamets.

In Mycelium Running (Ten Speed Press 2005), Stamets explores the use and applications of fungi in bioremediation—a practice called mycoremediation. Stamets details methods of termite and ant control using nontoxic mycelia, and describes how certain fungi may be able to neutralize anthrax, nerve gas, and smallpox.{{cite journal |author=Starhawk |authorlink=Starhawk |year=2006 |title=Notes from Underground – Book review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World |journal=Yes! |issue=38 |publisher=Positive Futures Network |url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/5000-years-of-empire/notes-from-underground |issn=1089-6651 |accessdate=1 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029185431/http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/5000-years-of-empire/notes-from-underground |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=Magic Mushrooms: That fungus among us is good for more than just eating |first=Kelly |last=Hearn |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/09.22.04/dining-0439.html |newspaper=North Bay Bohemian |date=22 September 2004 |issn=1532-0154 |accessdate=1 January 2013}} He includes the following with regard to the mycelium:

Is this the largest organism in the world? This 2,400-acre (9.7 km2) site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth of mycelium before logging roads cut through it. Estimated at 1,665 football fields in size and 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it several times over, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Mushroom-forming forest fungi are unique in that their mycelial mats can achieve such massive proportions.