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fungus |
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fungusAny of about 200,000 species of organisms belonging to the kingdom Fungi, or Mycota, including yeasts, rusts, smuts, molds, mushrooms, and mildews. Though formerly classified as plants, they lack chlorophyll and the organized plant structures of stems, roots, and leaves. Fungi contribute to the disintegration of organic matter resulting in the release of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus from dead plants and animals into the soil or the atmosphere. Fungi can be found in the water, soil, air, plants, and animals of all regions of the world that have sufficient moisture to enable them to grow. Essential to many food and industrial processes, fungi are also used in the production of enzymes, organic acids, vitamins, and antibiotics. They also can destroy crops, cause such diseases as athlete's foot and ringworm, and ruin clothing and food with mildew and rot. The thallus, or body, of a typical fungus consists of a mycelium through which cytoplasm flows. The mycelium generally reproduces by forming spores, either directly or in special fruiting bodies that are generally the visible part of the fungus. The soil provides an ideal habitat for many species. Lacking chlorophyll, fungi are unable to carry out photosynthesis and must obtain their carbohydrates by secreting enzymes onto the surface on which they are growing to digest the food, which they absorb through the mycelium. Saprophytic fungi live off dead organisms and are partly responsible for the decomposition of organic matter. Parasitic fungi invade living organisms, often causing disease and death (see parasitism). Fungi establish symbiotic relationships with algae (forming lichens), plants (forming mycorrhizae; see mycorrhiza), and certain insects.fungus 1. any member of a kingdom of organisms (Fungi) that lack chlorophyll, leaves, true stems, and roots, reproduce by spores, and live as saprotrophs or parasites. The group includes moulds, mildews, rusts, yeasts, and mushrooms 2. Pathol any soft tumorous growth www.agarics.org/Index.jsp www.fungaljungal.org www.botanical.com www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungi.html www.elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/fungi fungus [′fəŋ·gəs] (mycology) Singular of fungi. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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No references found | The feeling of happiness in being near her continually grew, and at last reached such a point that, as he put a huge, slender-stalked agaric fungus in her basket, he looked straight into her face, and noticing the flush of glad and alarmed excitement that overspread her face, he was confused himself, and smiled to her in silence a smile that said too much. All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision! It was a kind of glade in the forest, made by a fall; seedlings were already starting up to struggle for the vacant space; and beyond, the dense growth of stems and twining vines and splashes of fungus and flowers closed in again. |
fungus |
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