7 October 2025
7 min watch
Are there mushrooms hiding in your clothes?
Discover the surprising link between fungi and fashion in the latest episode of Dig Deeper.
Did you know you can use fungi and lichens to make dye?
Join Kew curator-mycologists Issy Miles-Bunch and Rosie Woods in the Fungarium as they introduce you to some of their favourite specimens.
Meet the bloodred webcap; the spectacular colour-changing cinnamon bracket; and the dyer’s polypore, with its special trick of glowing under UV light. These species can make our clothes look beautiful and even help us in the lab – but how do they produce these vibrant colours, and why?
Dig Deeper
Dig Deeper is an ongoing series that delves into the stories behind plants and fungi you know and love. Meet experts from Kew Gardens and Wakehurst, and dig a little deeper into foods, medicines and so much more from the floral and fungal world.
