Fungus

The Latin word for mushroom is fungus (plural, fungi). The word fungus has come to stand for a whole group of simple plants that contain no chlorophyll and lack such complex plant structures as roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. Included among the fungi, along with mushrooms, are molds, mildews, rusts, smuts, truffles, and yeasts. Toadstool is another name for mushroom. Some people use the name toadstool only when referring to poisonous mushrooms, but botanists make no such distinction. A general scientific term for fungi is mycota, from the Greek word for mushroom, mykes, and the study of these organisms is called mycology.
Because they lack chlorophyll, fungi are unable to manufacture food out of the raw materials around them as other plants do. They must therefore get nutrition from other plants and from animals. When they get their food from living plants or animals, fungi are called parasites. When they get it from dead plant or animal matter, they are called......

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Title: Fungus
Approximate Word Count: 2153
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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