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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').
Cultivating fungi can yield foods (which include mostly mushrooms), medicine, construction materials and other products. A mushroom farm is involved in the business of growing fungi. The word is also commonly used to refer to the practice of cultivation of fungi by animals such as leafcutter ants, termites, ambrosia beetles, and marsh periwinkles.
Sporocarps can also serve as a food source for other fungi. Sporocarps can be hosts to diverse communities of fungicolous fungi. Short-lived sporocarps are more often hosts to fungicolous fungi than are long-lived sporocarps, which may have evolved more investment in defense mechanisms and tend to have less water content than their short-lived ...
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. Fungi reproduce via spores and grow as hyphae, mycelia, and further
Pholiota squarrosa growing at the base of a tree. A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. Toadstool generally denotes one poisonous to humans. [1]
[5] [6] Yeast sizes vary greatly, depending on species and environment, typically measuring 3–4 μm in diameter, although some yeasts can grow to 40 μm in size. [7] Most yeasts reproduce asexually by mitosis , and many do so by the asymmetric division process known as budding .
The term is also used to refer to the process of reproduction via spores. Reproductive spores were found to be formed in eukaryotic organisms, such as plants, algae and fungi, during their normal reproductive life cycle. Dormant spores are formed, for example by certain fungi and algae, primarily in response to unfavorable growing conditions.
Rhizopus stolonifer can reproduce asexually and sexually. It is a heterothallic species. [3] Sexual reproduction occurs when compatible haploid mating types in the form of hyphae make contact with each other, producing diploid zygospores. The sporangiophore contains both '+' and '−' mating type strains in the form of sporangiospores. [11]