Morphological Similarities in Fungi

Abstract

There is so much morphological variety among fungi that it is natural to stress these differences which are to be found, even if only because obvious ones are useful as taxonomic characters. But there are also great similarities among taxonomically unrelated fungi, and it is with these that this chapter is concerned. We shall not be dealing here with strict homology of structures, but only with similarity. Much of what follows is speculative and runs the usual risks of over-generalization; nevertheless, a discussion of this sort may be useful as a reminder that we need a much better knowledge of the properties of hyphae, and their capabilities and limitations in particular situations, if we are to obtain a more unified picture of fungal life. Essentially, what is considered here are some of the potentialities of growth-forms constructed of tubular elements with apical growth, in this case hyphae.