Fungi share a number of characteristics with plants. Both types of organisms seem to grow upwards from the ground and to stay in one place. Despite these similarities, fungi are not plants.

Unlike autotrophic plants, fungi are not capable of photosynthesis. This means that unlike plants, fungi cannot produce their own energy. Instead, fungi are heterotrophic organisms that gain their energy by feeding on the compounds created by other organisms. In this sense, fungi are similar to animals.

However, many features of fungal cells, tissues, reproduction, and genome make them different from both the animal and plant kingdoms. Therefore, fungi are unique organisms that comprise their own fungi kingdom. 


The traditional kingdom classification of living organisms. Like plants, animals, and protists, fungi are eukaryotic, meaning that their cells have nuclei and specialized organelles.

The fungi kingdom is a diverse group of organisms. There are over 100 000 known species of fungi, but the actual number of different fungi species in the world may well be in the millions.

Most fungi are microscopically small, even unicellular. They exist everywhere around us: in the soil, in plants, in animals, and even in other fungi. We notice these microfungi for example when the bread in our pantry grows moldy.

The larger, more visible types of fungi are called macrofungi. They can grow fruit bodies, which we usually call mushrooms. Macrofungi are also prevalent in the environment around us.