Page 116 - Ultimate Visual Dictionary (DK)
P. 116
PLANTS
Fungi and lichens EXAMPLES OF FUNGI
Emerging Pileus (cap) Bark
FUNGI WERE ONCE THOUGHT OF AS PLANTS but are now classified as sporophore continuous with of dead
a separate kingdom. This kingdom includes not only the familiar (spore-bearing stipe (stalk) beech tree
structure)
mushrooms, puffballs, stinkhorns, and molds, but also yeasts,
smuts, rusts, and lichens. Most fungi are multicellular, consisting
of a mass of threadlike hyphae that together form a mycelium.
However, the simpler fungi (e.g., yeasts) are microscopic,
single-celled organisms. Typically, fungi reproduce by means of
spores. Most fungi feed on dead or decaying matter, or on living
organisms. A few fungi obtain their food from plants or algae,
with which they have a symbiotic (mutually advantageous)
relationship. Lichens are a symbiotic partnership between
algae and fungi. Of the six types of lichens, the three most
common are crustose (flat and crusty), foliose (leafy), and
fruticose (shrublike). Some lichens (e.g., Cladonia floerkeana)
are a combination of types. Lichens
EXAMPLES reproduce by means of spores or Inrolled
OF LICHENS margin
soredia (powdery vegetative
of pileus
fragments). (cap) Gill Sporophore Stipe Hyphae
(site of spore (spore-bearing (stalk) (fungal
production) structure) filaments)
Secondary fruticose OYSTER FUNGUS
thallus
(Pleurotus pulmonarius)
Toothed
Branched, hollow stem Gleba branchlet
(spore-producing
Apothecium
(spore-producing body) tissue found in Branch
FRUTICOSE this type of fungus)
Cladonia portentosa Sporophore
Sporophore Porous stipe (spore-bearing
Soredia (powdery vegetative (spore-bearing (stalk) structure)
fragments) produced at structure)
end of lobe
Tree bark Volva
(remains of
Foliose universal
thallus veil) Stipe (stalk)
STINKHORN RAMARIA FORMOSA
FOLIOSE (Phallus impudicus)
Hypogymnia physodes Soredium (powdery vegetative
SECTION THROUGH FOLIOSE LICHEN fragment involved in propagation)
SHOWING REPRODUCTION released from lichen
Soredia (powdery vegetative Algal cell
fragments) released onto BY SOREDIA
surface of squamulose Apothecium Fungal hypha
thallus (spore-producing Upper
cortex
body)
Basal scale Algal
of primary layer
squamulose
thallus Medulla of
fungal hyphae
(mycelium)
Moss Podetium
(granular stalk) Lower Soralium
SQUAMULOSE (SCALY) of secondary cortex Rhizine (pore in
AND FRUTICOSE THALLUS fruticose thallus (bundle of upper surface Upper surface
Cladonia floerkeana absorptive hyphae) of thallus) of thallus
114

