Fungi is the name given to a strange group of living things including, mushrooms, toadstools, moulds and thousand s of other weird and wonderful things. Its safe to say that if you see something strange growing outside and you’re not sure what it is it’s probably a fungus.

Unlike plants fungi cannot produce their own food. Instead they absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Here is fungi ‘eating’ some wood in a house.

Fungi is found in the Trophic level that also includes bacteria. This level is essential to nature, without the bacteria and fungi there would be nothing breaking down the dead plants. If that happened then there would be no food for the next Trophic level, ultimately there would be no food for the predators, which includes us!!

Here is a fungi (or mushroom) growing out of a cow pat!! It absorbs the nutrients in the cow poo as it grows, getting rid of the poo as well. That’s why you are not knee deep in cow, pig, dog and cat poo. Not to mention human waste!!!

We can eat fungi, if we want to, and when we do we call the fungi mushrooms. But not all mushrooms are safe to eat.

Yeast ---- a fungus used in making bread

Penicillium--- used to cure many diseases It is a fungus

Some fungi can cause disease. Fungi likes to grow in damp warm places, just like this athletes foot, don’t forget to dry between your toes!!

Remember Fungi always grows on other living things (or living things that have died!)

1.Marmite (or vegemite) love it or hate it, it’s made from yeast extract, and yeast is a fungi. 2.Beer and bread are made with yeast. Beer is fermented with the fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's yeast), or Saccharomyces carlsbergensis for lager-making. Wine and cider traditionally use naturally-occurring yeasts for fermentation. 3.Quorn - a meat substitute is popular with vegetarians. Sausages, mince and mock-chicken fillets are made from this fungus grown in huge vats. In the 1950’s and 60’s scientists were worried about a future shortage of protein-rich foods, and worked to find an alternative. After more than a decade of testing, Quorn products went on sale in So, What did fungi ever do for us??

4. Orchids, like vegetarians, feed on fungi. These tropical flowers are parasites of fungi. 5. Truffles. Mould-ripened cheeses such as camembert, brie and stilton. Mmmm. 6. Soy sauce and miso paste are among the many fermented foods in Asian cooking. 6. Soil and compost are broken down and enriched thanks to fungi, it account for 90% of the nutrient recycled in the ecosystems. They turn dead leaves and wood into soil, Fungi also break down cellulose, and are the only organisms that can rot lignin, the hard constituent of wood. 7. Anti-cholesterol drugs, were originally derived from fungi. 8. Penicillin has saved countless lives over the years and was originally derived from a fungus. Several other antibiotics are also fungal in origin.