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 saprophytes.

Fungi are very widely distributed throughout the world, particularly in the temperate and tropical regions where there is sufficient moisture for them to grow. They are less likely to be found in dry areas. Some few types of fungi have be

Among the mushrooms are the puffballs and earthstars, which grow in soil or on rotting wood in forests and grassy areas. Many of these are edible while young. When they mature, they dry out and become powdery inside. Rural children know that if they kick these mushrooms when they are dry, a powdery burst of spores will swirl into the slightest breeze. The largest of the puffballs, Calavatia gigantea, may be as large as 4 feet (120 centimeters) or more across. The earthstars are so named because, in addition to the puffball effect, they have a leaflike expanded base that resembles a star. Since some mushrooms are poisonous, only an expert in mushroom identification should collect mushrooms that are intended for people to eat.

Some types of fungi live in close, mutually dependent association with plants or animals. Lichens, for example, are combinations of fungi and algae living in such close association that they seem to be a single plant form.

In order to grow, the mycelium uses the organic matter, either living or dead, in its environment. As the mycelium matures, it forms spores. These are seedlike reproductive bodies, each normally consisting of one cell, that become detached from the parent fungus and start new organisms. As the spore grows, it develops into a hypha that branches out and eventually forms the mycelium of a new fungus. In some fungi the spores may be produced directly by any portion of the mycelium; in others, such as the mushroom, they are formed in a special fruiting section, such as the mushroom cap. This section, normally the only visible or most visible section of the fungus, is called the sporophore.

Not all fungi are beneficial. Some, as has been noted, can cause serious diseases in plants and wreak havoc on whole segments of an agricultural economy. One of the best-known instances of fungus devastation in the 20th century was the destruction of elm trees in Europe and the United States by Dutch elm disease. The fungus responsible, Ceratocystis ulmi, probably arrived in Europe from Asia about the time of World War I. By the 1930s it had spread throughout Europe and Great Britain and killed thousands of trees. It appeared in the United States in 1930 and has since destroyed millions of elm trees. Overland spread of the disease normally occurs through transmission by elm bark beetles.

Ergot also contains lysergic acid, the principle active agent in the drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). The fungus does have some positive uses however. It has been used to develop medicines that induce labor in pregnant women and curtail hemorrhaging after birth.

Certain scale insects embed themselves in the bark of trees and remain there sucking sap from the tree for the rest of their lives. A type of fungus will spread itself in a network over the bark of the tree, covering the insects and feeding off them, without killing them. This is a case of double parasitism: the insects live off the tree and the fungus off the insects, both to the disadvantage of the tree.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Arctic Antarctic, Familiar Fungi, Obtain Food, Animal Associations, Fungus Latin, Mature French, Europe Britain, People Fungi, St Anthony's, Alexander Fleming, types fungi, organic matter, plants animals, plant animal, living dead, dead organic matter, fruits vegetables, dead organic, dead plant animal, single-celled fungi, animals including, including humans, animals including humans,
Approximate Word count = 2152
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)