Fungi and lichens:Fungi were once thought of as plants but are now classified as a separate kingdom. This kingdom includes not only the familiar mushrooms, puffballs, stinkhorns, and molds, but also yeasts, smuts, rusts, and lichens. Most fungi are multicellular, consisting of a mass of threadlike hyphae that together form a mycelium. However, the simpler fungi (e.g., yeasts) are microscopic, single-celled organisms. Typically, fungi reproduce by means of spores. Most fungi feed on dead or decaying matter, or on living organisms. A few fungi obtain their food from plants or algae, with which they have a symbiotic (mutually advantageous) relationship. Lichens are a symbiotic partnership between
algae and fungi. Of the six types of lichens, the three most common are crustose (flat and crusty), foliose (leafy), and fruticose (shrublike). Some lichens (e.g., Cladonia floerkeana) are a combination of types. Lichens reproduce by means of spores or soredia (powdery vegetative fragments).
