Fungal Facts
WHAT ARE FUNGI?
Fungi are organisms that interact with all other kingdoms of life. They can be saprotrophs (eating dead things), mutualists (coexisting with others), pathogens (disease-causing), all of the above, and much more.
The kingdom of fungi holds an estimated 10 million species of which we only know 1%.
Although fungi are not like plants or animals, they are eukaryotes.
The majority of fungi are hidden, existing beneath the soil and the mushrooms we often see are just a small part of its body used to reproduce. Like an apple on a tree!
DID YOU KNOW?
The fungus, Aspergillus niger, is used in the mass production of citric acid put in drinks like soda?
The largest organism on land is a fungus! Armillaria ostoyae is Oregon's humongous fungus that covers 2385 acres of the Malheur National Forest.
Most fungi cannot be farmed, so many of the fungi we eat come directly from the forest.
Yeast are fungi.
Multiple fungal species of Aspergillus and Penicillium grow on the International Space Station (ISS).
