Phylum Fungi

Abstract

While many fungi, such as mushrooms, toadstools and moulds, are quite widely known, the diversity and importance of this very large group are seldom fully appreciated. There are more than 40000 species of fungi. They live in a very wide variety of habitats throughout the world, the most important being the soil, dead wood and the tissues of living plants. Most species are terrestrial but some, for example the moulds found on dead and wounded fish, are aquatic.