fungus

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Two Amanita pantherina mushrooms with brown caps covered in white spots grow among moss and fallen leaves.

Illustration of a red-capped mushroom wearing a red cape next to bold text reading 'Can fungi save the world?' with a smokestack in the background.

Small brown mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

Maitake mushrooms

Close-up of a rye stalk with a dark ergot fungus growing on it, set against a blurred green field background.

Person in a plaid shirt holding two large white giant puffball mushrooms, Calvatia gigantea, against a background of green foliage.

Cluster of oyster cap mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) growing without stems on decaying wood, showing layered, pale caps and gills against a rough, natural background.

Spongiforma squarepantsii

At a Glance

Bracket fungus (Polyporus) growing on wood.

fungus: Media

organism

Videos

Illustration of a red-capped mushroom wearing a red cape next to bold text reading 'Can fungi save the world?' with a smokestack in the background.

The Tiny Fungi Fighting Climate Change

These aren't your average mushrooms.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Small brown mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

Are Fungi Plants?

There are fungus among us. How well do we understand them?

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

A tall white mushroom in the forest.

Do Mushrooms Need Sunlight?

What is food for a mushroom? That depends.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Know about the role of fungi in the forest ecosystem, where some digest plant matter, while others team with the plant (mycorrhizal) mutually

Know about the role of fungi in the forest ecosystem, where some digest plant matter, while others team with the plant (mycorrhizal) mutually

Learn about fungi in the forest ecosystem, including how some fungi digest plant...

Video: © Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

The role of fungi in forest decomposition

The role of fungi in forest decomposition

The role of fungi in the decomposition of forest litter.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Why are Pilobolus fungi called “hat-throwers”?

Why are Pilobolus fungi called “hat-throwers”?

Learn about the unique reproductive strategies of the fungi genus Pilobolus.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Learn about the kingdom Fungi, an organism that is different than plants and animals

Learn about the kingdom Fungi, an organism that is different than plants and animals

Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that are distinctly different from plants and animals...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Examine what separates mushrooms, mildews, molds, and yeasts from the plant and animal kingdoms

Examine what separates mushrooms, mildews, molds, and yeasts from the plant and animal kingdoms

Learn about the important characteristics that distinguish fungi from plants and...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Discover the ecological importance and the role of fungi in the ecosystem

Discover the ecological importance and the role of fungi in the ecosystem

As fungi break down organic matter, they release important molecules into the atmosphere...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

See how smut fungus destroys corn smut

See how smut fungus destroys corn smut

Some fungi are important pathogens of plants that cause diseases such as corn smut,...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

Two Amanita pantherina mushrooms with brown caps covered in white spots grow among moss and fallen leaves.

Poisonous panther cap mushrooms

A pair of panther cap mushrooms (Amanita pantherina). Closely related to...

© asfloro/stock.adobe.com

Morel

Morel

Common morel mushroom (Morchella esculenta) growing on the forest floor.

© tomasztc—iStock/Getty Images Plus

Maitake mushrooms

Maitake mushrooms

Edible maitake mushrooms (Grifola frondosa).

© Ueapun/Dreamstime.com

Close-up of a rye stalk with a dark ergot fungus growing on it, set against a blurred green field background.

Ergot

Wheat infected by ergot (Claviceps purpurea). This fungus is also the source...

© Yuliya/stock.adobe.com

Person in a plaid shirt holding two large white giant puffball mushrooms, Calvatia gigantea, against a background of green foliage.

Fungal giants

A person holding two giant puffball fungi (Calvatia gigantea).

© Jun Zhang—iStock/Getty Images

Cluster of oyster cap mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) growing without stems on decaying wood, showing layered, pale caps and gills against a rough, natural background.

Shelf fungi

Fungi are made up of masses of tubular filaments called hyphae that penetrate into...

© Rejdan/Shutterstock.com

Spongiforma squarepantsii

Spongiforma squarepantsii

Spongiforma squarepantsii, a species of fungus discovered in 2010 on the...

© Thomas Bruns/MushroomObserver.org

Club fungus

Club fungus

Club fungus (Claveria) has a dolipore septum, which is made up of a pore...

Ken Brate/Photo Researchers

Three bright red cup fungus (Sarcoscypha coccinea) growing on damp, dark wood with green moss.

Cup fungus

Sarcoscypha coccinea, a species of cup fungus, is a member of the phylum...

© Rolf Müller/stock.adobe.com

Earth tongue

Earth tongue

Black earth tongue fungi (Geoglossum fallax) have club-shaped fruiting bodies...

© Biophoto Associates/Science Source

Spongiforma squarepantsii

Spongiforma squarepantsii

Scanning electron micrograph of the hymenium (spore-producing tissue) of Spongiforma...

© 2008 Mycologia & Desjardin, Peay, Bruns/MushroomObserver.org

A ring of white mushrooms grows in a circle on the forest floor among grass and leaf litter, with trees and shrubs surrounding the area.

Fairy ring

A fairy ring of mushrooms.

© FotoHelin/Shutterstock.com

A slice of bread with fuzzy mold patches is shown alongside a labeled diagram of Rhizopus stolonifer, illustrating the fungus's stolon, root-like rhizoids, and upright sporangiophores releasing spores.

Common bread mold

Rhizopus stolonifer growing on bread (left), with enlargement showing the...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Saprotrophism

Saprotrophism

Many fungi are saprotrophic—i.e., they obtain nutrients from dead organic matter.

© Dr Morley Read/Shutterstock.com

Close-up of an ear of corn infected with grayish huitlacoche fungus, or corn smut, growing in a green cornfield.

Corn smut

An ear of corn (maize) infected with corn smut, a plant disease caused by the parasitic...

© Belish/Dreamstime.com

Reishi

Reishi

Brackets of brightly colored reishi (Ganoderma lucidum).

© Craig Zerbe/stock.adobe.com

Three dried caterpillars with elongated, dark brown Cordyceps sinensis fungus growing from their heads, displayed on a white background.

Entomopathogenic caterpillar fungus

Caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis, formerly Cordyceps sinensis)...

© Raimond Klavins/Dreamstime.com

Ant fungiculture

Ant fungiculture

Leafcutter ants (Atta cephalotes) tending their fungus garden at an exhibit...

© Michael Siluk/Alamy

Blue-stained microscope view showing Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae molds with round spore heads and thin branching hyphae on a pale background.

Aspergillus; pneumonia

Some species of the fungi genus Aspergillus can cause allergic reactions...

© Sinhyu Photographer/Shutterstock.com

Close-up of Pilobolus kleinii fungus growing on damp, brown autumn leaves, with delicate spore stalks tipped with dew drops.

Pilobolus kleinii

Pilobolus kleinii, a species of hat-thrower fungi.

© Sarah2/Dreamstime.com

Armillaria

Armillaria

Fungi are found in areas that have sufficient organic material and moisture to support...

USDA Forest Service

Cluster of pale green Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica) growing on a tree branch, with blurred leaves and sky in the background.

Richardson's masonhalea lichen

Richardson's masonhalea lichen (Masonhalea richardsonii).

© Volha/stock.adobe.com

Dog lichen

Dog lichen

Dog lichen (Peltigera canina) has a foliose thallus that grows in a flat...

Louise K. Broman—Root Resources

Two Russula nobilis mushrooms, known as beechwood sickener, with red caps and white stems growing among fallen leaves on a forest floor.

Fungi

Kingdom Fungi is a monophyletic group, meaning that all modern fungi can be traced...

© Gabi Wolf/Dreamstime.com

A single elfin saddle fungus (Paragyromitra infula) with a dark brown, irregularly shaped cap grows from mossy forest floor debris in autumn.

Saddle fungus

Saddle fungi (Paragyromitra infula) are members of the phylum Ascomycota.

© davydele/stock.adobe.com

Yellow chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus cibarius) growing among green grass and moss on the forest floor.

Chanterelles

Edible golden chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius).

© Multiart—iStock/Getty Images

Diagram of the tree of life based on the three-domain system, showing Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryota branching into four kingdoms: Plants, Animals, Fungi, and Protista, with illustrations of representative organisms for each group.

The three-domain classification of life-forms

The tree of life according to the three-domain system of biological classification,...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Bracket fungus (Polyporus) growing on wood.

Bracket fungus (Polyporus) growing on wood.

H.S. Knighton

Podcasts

“The Orchid and the Fungus”

Melissa Petruzzello of Encyclopædia Britannica and Dr. Lynnaun Johnson of Rush University,...

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