mycophilia

Etymology

From myco- + -philia.

Why this word is great

MYCOPHILIA — [Noun] A passionate love or fascination with mushrooms and fungi. From the Greek myco- ("fungus") + -philia ("love of"). Unlike "mycophobia" (which recoils at their alien forms) or "fungiculture" (which may cultivate them with clinical detachment), mycophilia is a devotion to their quiet, subterranean majesty. It is the thrill of spotting a chanterelle’s golden glow in damp leaf litter, the reverence of sketching a morel’s honeycomb cap, and the childlike wonder of watching a puffball release its spores in a fleeting cloud. To love fungi is to embrace life’s most unsettling paradox: that decay is what makes growth possible.

noun

The love of mushrooms.