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The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. [10] This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; [11] the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').
The Fungi are classified as a kingdom that is separate from plants and animals. The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology or fungal biology, which is historically regarded as a branch of botany , even though genetic studies have shown that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants.
Combined with the five-kingdom model, this created a six-kingdom model, where the kingdom Monera is replaced by the kingdoms Bacteria and Archaea. [16] This six-kingdom model is commonly used in recent US high school biology textbooks, but has received criticism for compromising the current scientific consensus. [ 13 ]
It is probable that these earliest fungi lived in water, and had flagella. [5] However, a 2.4-billion-year-old basalt from the Palaeoproterozoic Ongeluk Formation in South Africa containing filamentous fossils in vescicles and fractures, that form mycelium-like structures may push back the origin of the Kingdom over one billion years before. [6]
Some fungi, types of polypores loosely called mushrooms, have been used as fire starters (known as tinder fungi). Mushrooms and other fungi play a role in the development of new biological remediation techniques (e.g., using mycorrhizae to spur plant growth) and filtration technologies (e.g. using fungi to lower bacterial levels in contaminated ...
Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and infection. Yeasts are among the most heavily utilized members of the Kingdom Fungi, particularly in food manufacturing. [2] Mycology branches into the field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases. The two disciplines are closely related ...
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fungi and mycology: . Fungi – "Fungi" is plural for "fungus". A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes unicellular microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as multicellular fungi that produce familiar fruiting forms known as mushrooms.
It includes not only mushroom-forming fungi, but also most species placed in the deprecated taxa Gasteromycetes and Homobasidiomycetes. [3] Within the subdivision Agaricomycotina , which already excludes the smut and rust fungi, the Agaricomycetes can be further defined by the exclusion of the classes Tremellomycetes and Dacrymycetes , which ...