Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Cultivating fungi can yield foods (which include mostly mushrooms), medicine, construction materials and other products. A mushroom farm is involved in the business of growing fungi. The word is also commonly used to refer to the practice of cultivation of fungi by animals such as leafcutter ants, termites, ambrosia beetles, and marsh periwinkles.
Indoor mold (American English) or indoor mould (British English), also sometimes referred to as mildew, is a fungal growth that develops on wet materials in interior spaces. Mold is a natural part of the environment and plays an important part in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees; indoors, mold ...
Some fungi form mushrooms; others grow as single cells and are called microfungi (for example yeasts). A large and taxonomically diverse number of fungal species form molds. The growth of hyphae results in discoloration and a fuzzy appearance, especially on food. [3]
A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant makes organic molecules by photosynthesis and supplies them to the fungus in the form of sugars or lipids, while the fungus supplies the plant with water and mineral nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil.
The fungus can be readily transported from the outdoors, and grow indoors using building material or accumulated soil to obtain nutrients for growth. Penicillium growth can still occur indoors even if the relative humidity is low, as long as there is sufficient moisture available on a given surface.
The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37 °C (about 99 °F). [2] The term is mainly applied to microorganisms. Organisms that prefer extreme environments are known as extremophiles. Mesophiles have diverse classifications, belonging to two domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and to kingdom Fungi of domain Eucarya.
Fungal-based artificial leather is cheaper to produce, has less of an environmental footprint, and is biodegradable. It costs between 18 and 28 cents to produce a square meter of raw mycelium, while it costs between $5.81 and $6.24 to produce a square meter of raw animal hide. Fungal growth is carbon neutral and pure mycelium is 94% biodegradable.
The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. [10] This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; [11] the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').