Mycelium

Usually, this phenomenon, in addition to crop circles, is called Fairy circles, the circles of the fairies, the witches ' ring. In Germany, for example, they claimed that such circles were trampled by witches at night, in Holland - devils beat up butter, and in Russia - circles indicate an enchanted treasure.

In fact, circles with a diameter of several tens of centimeters to several meters are formed by fungi. These circles form the various types of fungi: the mlechnikov, Govorushko, mushrooms, toadstools, morels, etc.

Under the same conditions, the mycelium of the fungus grows from the center at the same speed, forming a circle. Over time, the Central part of the mycelium dies due to lack of nutrition, and the extreme continues to bear fruit.

Each year, such a ring expands by 10-15 centimeters and can reach 70 meters in diameter (the mushroom openka dark (Armillaria ostoyae) in the Malur forest reserve in the us state of Oregon covers an area of more than 880 hectares, and its age is estimated at 2.4 thousand years).

Thus, at the edge of the circle is a young mycelium, and in the center - an old one. Hyphae of young mycelium intensively suck water and nutrients from the soil, impoverishing and drying it. Therefore, on the soil in this place, the grass grows poorly, thinns, turns yellow. In the Central part of the circle, the old mycelium dies, and the grass looks lush and juicy around the perimeter. Fruit bodies are usually formed on the young part of the mycelium, that is, on the edge of the circle.