Fungi
Although many people believe that the numerous varieties of fungi are plants, they are not. Fungi, such as mushrooms, molds, mildew, rust, and yeast, can not produce food from the sun's energy like plants do.
They lack chlorophyll. Fungi must absorb and dissolve nutrients from the soil, plants, and other places.
Fungi comprise one fifth of all organisms in the world. They can be a food source, like the mushrooms you get on pizza and the yeast added to bread to make it rise or beneficial to man's health, such as their use in the production of the antibiotic penicillin.
Fungi can be harmful to manmade products like the rust that corrodes exposed metals or the mildew that develops between tiles.
Some fungi can be deadly, as is the case with toadstools. And certain fungi are even parasites.
Athlete's foot and many extremely damaging plant diseases are caused by parasitic types of fungi.
Below are pictures of some of the different types of fungi found in forests.
Fungi are further characterized by the way they reproduce. Fungi send forth cloud-like bursts of millions of tiny spores that are carried in the wind to find a new location to grow.
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