Portal:Fungi

The Fungi Portal

A fungus is any member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. 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. Fungi reproduce via spores and grow as hyphae, mycelia, and futher specialized structures. Fungal spores are often produced on specialized structures or in fruiting bodies, such as the head of a mushroom. Abundant worldwide, most fungi are mostly invisible to the naked eye because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil, on dead matter, and as symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange. They have long been used as a direct source of food, such as mushrooms and truffles, as a leavening agent for bread, and in fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce.

Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological agents to control weeds and pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals including humans. The fruiting structures of a few species are consumed recreationally or in traditional ceremonies as a source of psychotropic compounds. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies. Despite their importance on human affairs, little is known of the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at around 1.5 million species, with about 5% of these having been formally classified.

More about fungi...

Selected article

Lactarius indigo, commonly known as the indigo milk cap, the indigo Lactarius or the blue Lactarius, is a species of fungus in the mushroom family Russulaceae. A widely distributed species, it grows naturally in eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America. In Europe, it has so far only been found in southern France. L. indigo grows on the ground in both deciduous and coniferous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with a broad range of trees. The fruiting body color ranges from dark blue in fresh specimens to pale blue-gray in older ones. The milk, or latex, that oozes when the mushroom tissue is cut or broken—a feature common to all members of the genus Lactarius—is also indigo blue, but slowly turns green upon exposure to air. The cap is typically between 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) broad, and the stem 2 to 8 cm (0.8 to 3.1 in) tall by 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4 to 1.0 in) thick. It is an edible mushroom, and is sold in rural markets in Mexico, Guatemala, and China.

Selected species

Lactarius torminosus, commonly known as the woolly milkcap or the bearded milkcap, is a large basidiomycete fungus in the genus Lactarius. It is found in the United Kingdom, Northern Europe, and is common in North America, where it grows in mixed forests in a mycorrhizal association with various trees, most commonly birch. Although it is valued for its peppery flavor and eaten after pickling in Russia and Finland, it is highly irritating to the digestive system when eaten raw. The toxins responsible for the acrid taste are destroyed by cooking.

The fruit bodies produced by the fungus have caps which can reach up to 10 cm (3.9 in) in diameter. They are pink-flesh colored, with whitish concentric zones. The edge of the cap is rolled inwards, and shaggy when young. On the underside of the caps are flesh-colored gills crowded closely together. It is on these fertile gill surfaces that the spore-bearing cells, the basidia are found. The cylindrical stem is a pale flesh color with a delicately downy surface, reaching lengths of up to 8 cm (3.1 in). When cut or injured, the fruit bodies ooze a white latex that does not change color upon exposure to air. The variety normandensis, in contrast, has latex that changes color from white to yellow.

Things to do

If you want to help Wikipedia to improve its coverage of fungi, here are some things you can do...

• Assess some fungi articles.
• Join Wikipedia:WikiProject Fungi or ask on the talk page.
• Join the lichen task force.
• Review, improve, expand or clean some of the newly created fungi-related articles.
• Expand some high priority fungus stubs.
• Expand or sort other fungi-related stubs.
• Add images to articles in the list of unillustrated fungi articles, or add more articles to the list.
• Write fungi-related articles from scratch. For ideas of needed articles, see the redlinks on-
  • Wikipedia:WikiProject Fungi/List of unwritten articles (high priority)
  • Wikipedia:WikiProject Missing encyclopedic articles/Skysmith's list of missing articles/Biology/Fungi
  • Members of Category:Lists of fungal species
• Review the fungi articles flagged as needing attention.

WikiProjects

WikiProjects related to fungi:

• WikiProject Science
  • WikiProject Biology
    • WikiProject Tree of Life
      • WikiProject Fungi
• WikiProject Medicine
• WikiProject Food

What are WikiProjects?

Selected picture

Rigidoporus laetus, a species of plant pathogen from the genus Rigidoporus, photographed Mt Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia.

Did you know?

• ... that the flesh of the mushroom Russula fragilis tastes hot, while its smell is fruity?
• ... that the bitter and inedible mushroom Russula fellea smells of geraniums or apple sauce?
• ... that the grey knight is a small, edible mushroom that is often confused with the larger and poisonous dirty trich?
• ... that the highly regarded edible mushroom Cortinarius caperatus is known as the granny's nightcap in Finland?
• ... that depending on the author, the odor of the stinkhorn mushroom Phallus hadriani has been described as sweet, or fetid?

General images -

The following are images from various fungi-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Salmon with fungal disease (from Marine fungi)
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  Young Amanita phalloides "death cap" mushrooms, with a matchbox for size comparison (from Mushroom)
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  Psilocybe zapotecorum, a hallucinogenic mushroom (from Mushroom)
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  Psychotropic mushroom Amanita muscaria, commonly known as "fly agaric" (from Mushroom)
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  Amanita jacksonii buttons emerging from their universal veils (from Mushroom)
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  Close-up cross section of mushroom. (from Mushroom)
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  Onychomycosis (from Fungal infection)
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  Pennate diatom from an Arctic meltpond, infected with two chytrid-like [zoo-]sporangium fungal pathogens (in false-colour red). Scale bar = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
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  Oral candidiasis (from Fungal infection)
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  Neurospora crassa life cycle. The haploid mycelium reproduces asexually by two processes: (1) simple proliferation of existing mycelium, and (2) formation of conidia (macro- and micro-) which can be dispersed and then germinate to produce new mycelium. In the sexual cycle, mating can only occur between individual strains of different mating type, A and a. Fertilization occurs by the passage of nuclei of conidia or mycelium of one mating type into the protoperithecia of the opposite mating type through the trichogyne. Fusion of the nuclei of opposite mating types occurs within the protoperithecium to form a zygote (2N) nucleus. (from Mating in fungi)
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  Boletus edulis, also known as "cep", is an edible wild bolete found in Europe (from Mushroom)
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  Eumycetoma (from Fungal infection)
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  Agaricus bitorquis mushroom emerging through asphalt concrete in summer (from Mushroom)
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  Mycoloop links between phytoplankton and zooplankton

  Chytrid‐mediated trophic links between phytoplankton and zooplankton (mycoloop). While small phytoplankton species can be grazed upon by zooplankton, large phytoplankton species constitute poorly edible or even inedible prey. Chytrid infections on large phytoplankton can induce changes in palatability, as a result of host aggregation (reduced edibility) or mechanistic fragmentation of cells or filaments (increased palatability). First, chytrid parasites extract and repack nutrients and energy from their hosts in form of readily edible zoospores. Second, infected and fragmented hosts including attached sporangia can also be ingested by grazers (i.e. concomitant predation). (from Marine fungi)
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  Ling Zhi-8, an immunomodulatory protein isolated from Ganoderma lucidum (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
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  Typical mating fusion of two compatible monokaryons in Basidiomycota (from Mating in fungi)
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  Fungi within Ascomycota form ascogonium and antheridium with trichogyne bridge (from Mating in fungi)
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  Ganoderma lingzhi (from Mushroom)
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  Culinary mushrooms in a diversity of shapes and colors (from Mushroom)
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  Morphological diversity of fungi collected from a marine sponge species, Ircinia variabilis (from Marine fungi)
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  Pityriasis versicolor (from Fungal infection)
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  Tinea corporis (from Fungal infection)
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  Driftwood

  (from Marine fungi)
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  Fungi within Zygomycota form progametangia with suspensors during mating (from Mating in fungi)
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  Common puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) has a glebal hymenium; the interior is white when it is young, but as it matures, the interior becomes brown containing spores (from Mushroom)
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  Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine fungi)
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  Agaricus bisporus, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed mushrooms (from Mushroom)
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  Agaricus bisporus mushroom is a cultivated edible mushroom for foods and has many names such as "champignon", " button mushroom", "white mushroom", and " portobello" (from Mushroom)
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  Group photograph taken at a meeting of the British Mycological Society in 1913 (from Mycology)
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  There are over 100 psychoactive mushroom species of genus Psilocybe native to regions all around the world. (from Mushroom)
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  Diagram of a mycoloop (fungus loop)

  Parasitic chytrids can transfer material from large inedible phytoplankton to zooplankton. Chytrids zoospores are excellent food for zooplankton in terms of size (2–5 μm in diameter), shape, nutritional quality (rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterols). Large colonies of host phytoplankton may also be fragmented by chytrid infections and become edible to zooplankton. (from Marine fungi)
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  Mushrooms are considered a kind of fungal reproductive organ. (from Mycology)
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  Ferula mushroom in Bingöl, Turkey . This is an edible type of mushroom. (from Mushroom)
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  Morphological characteristics of the caps of mushrooms (from Mushroom)
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  Yellow flower pot mushrooms (Leucocoprinus birnbaumii) at various states of development (from Mushroom)
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  Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle

  Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle by processing phytoplankton-derived organic matter. Parasitic fungi, as well as saprotrophic fungi, directly assimilate phytoplankton organic carbon. By releasing zoospores, the fungi bridge the trophic linkage to zooplankton, known as the mycoloop. By modifying the particulate and dissolved organic carbon, they can affect bacteria and the microbial loop. These processes may modify marine snow chemical composition and the subsequent functioning of the biological carbon pump. (from Marine fungi)
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  The blue gills of Lactarius indigo, a milk-cap mushroom (from Mushroom)
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  Maitake, a polypore mushroom (from Mushroom)
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  Lichen covered rocks

  (from Marine fungi)
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  Amanita muscaria, the most easily recognised "toadstool", is frequently depicted in fairy stories and on greeting cards. It is often associated with gnomes. (from Mushroom)
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  Chytrid parasites of marine diatoms. (A) Chytrid sporangia on Pleurosigma sp. The white arrow indicates the operculate discharge pore. (B) Rhizoids (white arrow) extending into diatom host. (C) Chlorophyll aggregates localized to infection sites (white arrows). (D and E) Single hosts bearing multiple zoosporangia at different stages of development. The white arrow in panel E highlights branching rhizoids. (F) Endobiotic chytrid-like sporangia within diatom frustule. Bars = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
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  Morchella elata asci viewed with phase contrast microscopy (from Mushroom)
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  A tinder fungus, Fomes fomentarius (from Mushroom)
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  The red yeast rice fungus, Monascus purpureus, can synthesize three statins. (from Medicinal uses of fungi)
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  A mushroom (probably Russula brevipes) parasitized by Hypomyces lactifluorum resulting in a "lobster mushroom" (from Mushroom)
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  The photochemistry of vitamin D₂ biosynthesis (from Medicinal uses of fungi)

Related portals

Topics

Main topics lists: Outline of fungi and Outline of lichens

• Fungi: Bracket fungus, carnivorous fungus, coprophilous fungi, entomopathogenic fungus, evolution of fungi, lichen, mushroom, mycology (lichenology, mycotoxicology, paleomycology), mycorrhiza, pathogenic fungi, puffball, wood-decay fungus

• Fungal orders: Chytridiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Zygomycota, Glomeromycota. Dikarya: Ascomycota, Basidiomycota

• Fungi lists: Species: Agaricus species, Amanita species, Boletus species, Cortinarius species, Cyathus species, Hygrocybe species, Hygrophorus species, Inocybe species, Lactarius species, Mycosphaerella species, Panaeolus species, Psilocybe species, Russula species, Scleroderma species Other lists: Mycology journals, psilocybin mushrooms

• Uses: Edible mushroom, mushroom poisoning, psilocybin mushrooms, mushroom hunting, fungiculture, fermentation, baker's yeast, mycoremediation, lichenometry, mushroom dye

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