Fungus Among Us

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Fungi

Fungi Facts

• Fungi recycle plants after they die and turn them into rich soil

• Beautiful dyes are made from fungi

• Some fungi have chemicals in them that fight cancer

• Some mushroom grow in Fairy Rings that are over 10,000 years old around Stonehenge in England.

Button Mushrooms!

• Also known as: Agaricus bisporus

• Commonly known as Portabella, Crimini, and Baby Bella These are all the same mushroom

Beautiful Fungi

Truffles

White Truffle

• A New York restaurateur has paid a record $53,800 for a 1.08kg Italian white truffle at auction, according to the World News.

What are Mushrooms?

• Mushrooms are the spore-producing reproductive structures of certain kinds of fungi.

What Exactly are Fungi?

• They help make your bread light and fluffy and are used to ferment beer they are called Yeast

• Or on your old piece of bread

• It can grow on your shower curtain as mold or between your toes (ugh!!)

Decomposers

• Decompose or breakdown organic materials

• Fungi and bacteria are natures recyclers.

Saprophytes

A fungus secretes an enzyme that digests food outside itself

fungus cells absorb this food

Characteristics

• Grow in warm, humid conditions

• Body of a fungus is made of tiny thread-like tubes called HYPHAE

Hyphae

Usually grow underground It feeds, grows and ultimately produces a

new mushroom

Mycelium

When you grow mushrooms and you send off for a growing kit, you may be sent something called mycelium.

Mycelium is a collective term referring to a a large quantity of hyphae.

SporesSpores

Reproductive cells that form new fungi Reproductive cells that form new fungi without fertilization.without fertilization.

The structures in which make these The structures in which make these spores are used to classify fungi.spores are used to classify fungi.

You can make a spore print with a freshly You can make a spore print with a freshly picked mushroom cappicked mushroom cap

Chitin

• Spores are made of chitin

• The hardest naturally made substance on Earth

• Some scientists believe that spores are capable of space travel

• Some believe that fungi found on Earth originally came from outer space!!!

Spore Prints

• Rust Spores These are the spores of a parasitic fungus that forms orangish-red colored spots on the leaves and stems of plants it grows on. It's called rust because of its color. The fungus usually doesn't kill its host, but may cause stunting and discoloration of the plant.

Yeast Yeast produce by budding as well as with

spores. Budding- a form of asexual reproduction in

which a new organism grows off the side of the parent.

Lichens

• An organism that is made of a fungus and either a green algae or a cynobacterium

• The form a symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit from each other

Lichen Lichen

They are a food source for many They are a food source for many animalsanimals

Some grow on bare rockSome grow on bare rock Lichens help breakdown rocksLichens help breakdown rocks

Killer Fungus