Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Fungi cause the majority of plant diseases, which in turn cause serious economic losses. Sometimes, as in the Great Irish Famine of 1845–1849, fungal diseases of plants, in this case potato blight caused by Phytophthora, result in large-scale human suffering. Fungi are similarly the main cause of economic losses of timber in buildings.
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').
Dry rot is a generic name for certain species of brown-rot fungi. Brown-rot fungi of particular economic importance include Serpula lacrymans (true dry rot), Fibroporia vaillantii (mine fungus), and Coniophora puteana (cellar fungus), which may attack timber in buildings.
Penicillium (/ ˌ p ɛ n ɪ ˈ s ɪ l i əm /) is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is part of the mycobiome of many species and is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production.
Edible oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sp.) fruiting from a stumpThe second principle is to promote saprotrophic fungi in the environment. [2] Saprophytic fungi are crucial to mycoforestry systems because these are the primary composers breaking down wood and returning nutrients to the soil for use by the rest of the forest ecosystem.
The Auriculariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Auriculariales. Species within the family were formerly referred to the "heterobasidiomycetes" or "jelly fungi", since many have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on septate basidia. Around 100 species are known worldwide.
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.
Claviceps purpurea is an ergot fungus that grows on the ears of rye and related cereal and forage plants. Consumption of grains or seeds contaminated with the survival structure of this fungus, the ergot sclerotium, can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals.