Fungus
Plants and animals live on the Earth. So does fungus. Fungus is the name for mushrooms and living things like them. There are a lot of different types of fungus.
One way that fungi are different from plants is that most of their bodies live underground.
Fungi can seem like plants but they are very different. Because their bodies are so different, scientists put them in their own group. The group is called a kingdom. Plants and animals are also kingdoms.
Mushrooms are like the flowers of a fungus. They are the part we see most often. Mushrooms can be found in many places. Sometimes they are colorful and sometimes they are plain or ugly.
Fungi like to grow in areas with some rain and a lot of dead plants. There are a lot of fungi in a forest, but not many in a desert.
Fungi grow near their food. Dead plants, animals, and dirt are food for fungi. Fungi don’t need light like plants. This is why you find them in dark, smelly places.
You can see mushrooms growing on dead trees. When the plant dies, the fungus uses it for food. Fungi don’t get sick from eating rotten food. They love it!
As fungi use the old bodies of plants and animals, fungus cleans them up and makes space for new plants. Without fungi (and bacteria), dead plants would break down slowly. Forests would be full of dead trees.
It is good that fungi clean up the dead plants. Baby plants like this can use the new space to grow.
There is a juice in your stomach called acid that helps break down food. Fungi use a similar juice to break down its food. Here is a fungus eating fruit. This fungus is called mold. Mold doesn’t grow mushrooms.
Fungi, though, do not have stomachs. Fungi take the broken-down food right into their bodies. This fungus is eating dead leaves.
As the threads grow into a dead plant, they break it apart. The threads also let out a juice. This juice breaks down the plant.
Some fungi are made up of small threads. These threads grow through the soil and into dead plants.
When two threads run into each other they can make a fruiting body. Mushrooms are one type of fruiting body.
These threads collect food and make new fungus. A new fungus is made in a special way.
Spores are so small that they look like dust without a microscope. The wind can carry them very far.
The fruiting body holds spores. Spores make new fungi like seeds make new plants.
Fungi stay mostly under ground. They send a fruiting body up when they want to reproduce. Sending the spores up high helps them get to new places.
Mushrooms stick above ground to help send spores far away. The wind carries them to make new fungi in new places.
If you look under the top of a mushroom it looks like it has gills.
This is where the spores come from. The spores of a mushroom form and fall out of these gills. Wind carries the spores and new fungi grow where they fall.
You should only eat mushrooms chosen by an adult or expert. Eating new mushrooms can be dangerous!
More mushrooms can mean more food! Some mushrooms are good for you to eat. Some mushrooms are bad to eat. Some mushrooms are poisonous and will make you very sick.
