😎 "The Bold Ones"
Key structures
Arbuscules — tiny tree-shaped exchange sites inside root cells — plus vesicles, little storage balloons. They don't knock. They move in.
Plant partners
Roughly 70–80% of land plants — including most veggies, flowers, and grasses. If it grows in your garden bed, it's probably on the guest list.
"Why build a door when you can just live inside the house?" — endomycorrhizae, probably
🤝 "The Boundary-Respecters"
Key structures
A mantle — a fungal jacket wrapped around the root tip — and the Hartig net, a mesh of hyphae woven between root cells. Close contact, no breaking and entering.
Plant partners
Mostly trees — pines, oaks, beeches, birches. The forest crowd. Your tomato plant is not getting a plus-one to this party.
"I respect your cell walls." — ectomycorrhizae, definitely