Fungi, yes. If you have access to Netflix watch the documentary Fantastic Fungi. Less than an hour but lots of great information stuff you never knew - not just what we eat on top of the soil, but their place in the ecosystem beneath the soil. Fungi act as a sort of nerve endings for plants, sending messages (like an infested tree warning other trees to increase production of defenses), and seedlings to communicate with their “mamma” tree, even trading micro nutrients with each other through the interconnected fungi strands.
Fungi can get BIG, too. The largest known fungal organism is a honey fungus (Armillaria ostoyae) in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. This single colony spans approximately 2,385 acres, with an estimated weight of 35,000 tons and an age of over 2,400 years.
Almost FOUR SQUARE MILES!! And I thought MY waist was expanding in old age!