Fungus

Fungi Temporal range: Lower Devonian–Present 410 mya–present; earliest=Vendian
Clockwise from top left: Amanita muscaria, a basidiomycete; Sarcoscypha coccinea, an ascomycete; bread covered in mold; a chytrid; an Aspergillus conidiophore.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Obazoa
(unranked):	Opisthokonta
Clade:	Holomycota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Subkingdoms/Phyla/Subphyla
Blastocladiomycota Chytridiomycota Glomeromycota Microsporidia Neocallimastigomycota Dikarya (inc. Deuteromycota) Ascomycota Basidiomycota Subphyla incertae sedis Entomophthoromycotina Kickxellomycotina Mucoromycotina Zoopagomycotina

A fungus (plural: fungi) is a type of living organism that includes yeasts, molds, mushrooms and others. Fungi are a category of organism as large and varied as the animals or plants. Fungi, animals and plants are each Kingdoms of life.^[1][2]

Historically people thought fungi were most like plants, even calling fungi a type of plant. However fungi are not plants. Fungi are even more closely related to animals than to plants.

The study of fungi is known as mycology from "myco-" meaning fungi and "-ology" meaning "study of".

1. ↑ Jennings D.H. & Lysek G. 1996. Fungal biology: understanding the fungal lifestyle. Guildford, UK: Bios Scientific Publishers . ISBN 978-1-85996-150-6
2. ↑ Kirk P.M. et al 2008. Dictionary of the fungi, 10th ed. Wallingford, UK: CAB. ISBN 0-85199-826-7