🍄 Fungi (Kingdom Fungi)

🌱 General Traits

• Combine 🌿 plant traits (immobility, continuous growth, cell wall)
• and 🐾 animal traits (glycogen storage, urea excretion, heterotrophic, chitin in cell walls).
• Classified as a separate kingdom.

🧵 Structure

• Vegetative body = mycelium (network of hyphae 🪡).
• Single-celled fungi = lower fungi
• Multicellular fungi = higher fungi

🍄 Cap Fungi (Mushrooms)

• Form fruiting bodies with cap (hat 🧢) and stem (leg 🦵).
• 🍽️ Edible: porcini, chanterelles, russulas
• ☠️ Poisonous: death cap, amanita, false mushrooms
• Reproduce with millions of spores.

🌳 Mycorrhiza

🤝 Symbiosis between fungal hyphae & tree roots:

• 🍄 Fungi get organic substances
• 🌲 Trees get water, minerals, vitamins
• Important for nutrient exchange in forests.

🍞 Molds

• Grow as white fluff on bread & jam 🍯.
• Example: Mucor with sporangia (spore sacs).

🧬 Yeasts

• Single-celled 🍺
• Reproduce by budding 🌱.
• Used in alcoholic fermentation 🍷.

🦠 Parasitic Fungi

• 30% of fungi are parasites on plants & animals.
• Cause mycoses in humans and animals.
• Examples:
  • 🌾 Smuts (ergot) → produces alkaloids ☠️ causing ergotism
  • 🍂 Rust fungi on wheat
  • 🥔 Potato blight (phytophthora)
  • 🍄 Polypores (bracket fungi) hollow trees

🩺 Uses

• 🧀 Cheesemaking (Penicillium in Roquefort, Camembert)
• 🍋 Citric acid from Aspergillus
• 🌿 Chaga for medicine
• ⚕️ Ergot in gynecology & psychiatry

🌿 Lichens

🧬 What Are Lichens?

• Symbiosis of fungi + algae/cyanobacteria 🪴.
• The algae photosynthesize 🍃, fungi provide water & minerals 💧.
• Form a unified organism.

🌳 Types of Lichens

1️⃣ Fruticose 🌿 (shrubby, hanging “beards”)
2️⃣ Foliose 🍂 (leaf-like on soil or bark)
3️⃣ Crustose 🪨 (crusts on rocks)

Colors: 🟡 yellow, ⚪ white, ⚫ black, 🔴 red, 🟢 greenish

🌎 Ecology & Importance

• Pioneers on bare rocks 🪨.
• Survive dehydration, heat 🔥, and cold ❄️.
• Air pollution indicators 🌬️ (sensitive to sulfur dioxide).
• Used for:
  • 🔵 Litmus (pH indicator)
  • 🍬 Sugar, 🍷 alcohol
  • 🎨 Dyes, perfume fixatives
  • 🍽️ Edible lichens (reindeer moss)
  • ⚕️ Medicine (Usnea, Cetraria)

🌱 Reproduction

• By small clumps (algae + fungal hyphae) 🌿
• By thallus fragments 🍂
• Retain independent reproductive methods but need symbiosis for survival.

If you want:
✅ Quiz flashcards (with emoji hints)
✅ Infographic summary for your botany folder
✅ Comparison table: Fungi vs. Lichens
✅ Test yourself questions
just let me know, and I will prepare them to accelerate your memorization efficiently.