Chaga mushrooms parasitize birch trees, stealing their nutrients and eventually driving the birch tree to death. This is similar to cancer, the disease that modern people fear most. That is why people call the chaga mushroom the cancer of the birch tree.
The chaga fungus, which can be called the seed of the chaga mushroom, drifts here and there through the birch forest on the wind, looking for a chance to invade birch trees. From a human perspective, the chaga fungus is like the bacteria or viruses that exist around us.
When the chaga fungus wandering through the birch forest spots a gap in a birch tree, it attempts to invade. The entry routes are where the birch's outer bark has peeled off or wounds in a damaged birch tree. This is similar to becoming infected with bacteria or viruses when one's diet or hygiene is compromised.
For the chaga fungus that has penetrated the birch tree through wounds and the like, the birch tree's counterattack awaits. Since plants cannot move their bodies to escape invaders, they resist the invader by secreting self-protective substances.
The representative self-protective substance of the birch tree is none other than flavonoids. And in this process, most chaga fungi fail to establish themselves inside the birch tree and die. That is why finding a chaga mushroom in an actual birch forest is a very rare occurrence.
The same is true for humans. Every day, we encounter thousands upon tens of thousands of bacteria and viruses. If the birch tree's weapon is flavonoids, our weapon is immunity. When immunity is strong, we defeat bacteria and viruses; when it is not, disease begins from the bacteria and viruses that have penetrated our bodies.
The chaga fungus that has penetrated inside the birch tree and survived the birch tree's attacks by a narrow escape from death struggles hard to establish itself within the birch tree. It makes its roots by gradually decomposing the birch's fiber tissue and woody tissue. Even in this process, the chaga fungus is under the birch tree's constant attacks. The majority of chaga fungi die once again in this process.
Cancer is not a disease that appears overnight. Cancer that has begun from bacteria, viruses, and various other causes lives in our bodies in a seed state for 5 to 10 years. It is too small to be detected through hospital examinations, and because there are no symptoms, one cannot even feel it oneself. Countless cancer seeds are killed by immunity and are newly formed again.
If the situation in which the birch tree's immunity cannot overwhelm the chaga fungus continues, the chaga fungus eventually puts down long roots inside the birch tree and begins stealing the birch's nutrients. The roots reach lengths of 1 to 2 meters and grow inside the birch tree for 5 to 10 years.
The birch tree looks perfectly fine on the outside, but inside it is being overwhelmed by the chaga fungus. In terms of human cancer, this is a state of progression to about stage 1 or stage 2. Even so, the birch tree still has a chance. This is because its normal physiological activities are still ongoing.
Afterwards, the chaga fungus, having grown in volume, breaks through the birch's bark and protrudes to the surface. The part that protrudes outside the birch's bark like this is what we call the chaga mushroom. It serves as a warehouse that stores and keeps the nutrients taken from the birch tree. In terms of human cancer, this is a state of progression to about stage 3 or stage 4, when metastasis throughout the body has begun. This is the time when extraordinary measures are needed to survive.
The chaga mushroom that has broken through the birch's surface grows for another 10 to 20 years. How much longer it grows depends on the birch tree's remaining immunity. Since the chaga mushroom takes away even the minimal nutrients the tree needs for survival, from the birch tree's perspective, hope grows smaller as time passes.
In the end, the birch tree dies without reaching its average lifespan of 100 years. And the chaga mushroom also dies, unable to receive nutrients. This is after about 15 to 30 years have passed since it first took root in the birch tree.
In many ways, the life of the chaga mushroom is a fate very similar to human cancer. But there is one big difference. While human cancer is absolutely useless, the chaga mushroom holds the birch tree's precious nutrients. Behind the chaga mushrooms that people eat for their health lies the great sacrifice of the birch tree. That is why the indigenous people of Siberia express their gratitude to the birch tree every time they eat chaga mushrooms.
- Kinam Oh, kinam_oh@hanmail.net
