Paragraph on “Fungi” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

Fungi

Fungi also belong to the family of plants except that they do not have the green pigment called Chlorophyll nor do their cell walls have cellulose. They have thin thread like fungal fibres called Mycelium which are hidden under the surface where they are growing. Fungi do not reproduce with the help of seeds, they use spores. Since fungi cannot rely upon sunlight, because of the lack of chlorophyll, to produce their food, they rely upon other matter like decaying plants etc around them for this purpose. Fungus is often misunderstood to be toadstools which is incorrect because toadstools, puffballs etc are only the bodies which produce spores.

Most fungi produce large fruiting bodies like mushrooms, puffballs, cup and jelly fungi etc while others are the simpler ones which are in the shape of moulds and parasites. There are a large number of uses for Fungi, some of them are edible and there are others which are used for medicinal purposes. The edible variety include giant puffballs, morels, field mushrooms, shaggy ink caps, blushers, parasol mushrooms etc. It is necessary to identify the correct ones because there are certain varieties which are poisonous and can harm the eater by causing illness and subsequent death. As an example a Panther cap which is poisonous may look quite like a blusher. One should therefore never eat a mushroom which cannot be positively identified. Even in the edible type there are many which should not be eaten raw, they must be cleaned and cooked before consumption.

In the family of Fungi there are various moulds which are used for medicinal purposes. The mould Penicillium is the most popular and it was first discovered by Alexander Fleming who used it to make Penicillin. There are other varieties as well, like yeasts, which are used for making alcohol and used for making bread dough rise.