Mushrooms-The Fungus and Decomposer

A mushroom is a fungus. Scientists used to think that mushrooms and other fungi (plural of fungus) were plants. Now they know that fungi are very different from plants. Fungi get their food in a different way than plants. They also reproduce differently from plants. Fungi are now considered a completely different form of life.

A plant uses nutrients and sunlight to make food and stay alive. But a fungus can’t do this. It has to take food from its surroundings. It does that by breaking down material into basic nutrients. That’s why wild mushrooms usually sprout from old leaves or damp old logs. The fungus is breaking down the dead material to use as food.

Fungi are called decomposer's because they help decompose, or break things down. A rotting log is soft because decomposers have digested the hard parts.