Fungi
Fungi are extraordinary organisms that do not require sunlight to grow. These wonderful and complex forms are neither plants, nor animals. Unlike plants fungi do not contain chlorophyll and therefore cannot photosynthesise, they do however, breakdown materials such as plants and animal remains; something we call rotting. Fungi are therefore essential recyclers who return nutrients back to the soil. Many people think that the fruiting body (Toadstool/Mushroom) is all that there is, but in reality they can be a part of an enormous network of threadlike mycelium, some of which have been found to cover as much as two thousands acres. Considering fungi only spread by twenty or thirty centimetres a year, it would take well over a thousand years to reach this size, making fungi not only the largest living organism on the earth, but also the oldest.
![03D-6701 Sycamore Leaves Acer pseudoplatanus with the Tar Spot Fungus Rhytisma acerinum](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/03D-6701_Sycamore_Leaves_Acer_pseudoplatanus_with_the_Tar_Spot_Fungus_Rhytisma_acerinum_UK_thumb.jpg)
03D-6701 Sycamore Leaves Acer pseudoplatanus with the Tar Spot Fungus Rhytisma acerinum
![03D-6736 Fallen Tree Covered in the Many Zoned Polypore Fungi Coriolus versicolor](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/03D-6736_allen_Tree_Covered_in_the_Many_Zoned_Polypore_Fungi_Coriolus_versicolor_UK_1_thumb.jpg)
03D-6736 Fallen Tree Covered in the Many Zoned Polypore Fungi Coriolus versicolor
![03D-7399 Common Puffball Fungi Lycoperdon perlatum](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/03D-7399_Common_Puffball_Fungi_Lycoperdon_perlatum_thumb.jpg)
03D-7399 Common Puffball Fungi Lycoperdon perlatum
![03D-7420 Mature Common Puffball Fungi Lycoperdon perlatum](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/03D-7420_Mature_Common_Puffball_Fungi_Lycoperdon_perlatum_thumb.jpg)
03D-7420 Mature Common Puffball Fungi Lycoperdon perlatum
![04D-0897 Ear Fungus Hirneola auricula-judae](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/04D-0897_Ear_Fungus_Hirneola_auricula-judae_thumb.jpg)
04D-0897 Ear Fungus Hirneola auricula-judae
![04D-0898 Ear Fungus Hirneola auricula-judae.](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/04D-0898_Ear_Fungus_Hirneola_auricula-judae_thumb.jpg)
04D-0898 Ear Fungus Hirneola auricula-judae.
![05D-4599 Insect Infected by Fungi UK](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/05D-4599_Insect_Infected_by_Fungi_thumb.jpg)
05D-4599 Insect Infected by Fungi UK
![01M-1690 Autumn Leaf on Fungi UK.](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/01M-1690_Autumn_Leaf_on_Fungi_UK1_thumb.jpg)
01M-1690 Autumn Leaf on Fungi UK.
![Velvet Shank Fungi, (Flammulina velutipes) UK](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/2022EOSR-1747_1_thumb.jpg)
Velvet Shank Fungi, (Flammulina velutipes) UK
![06-0290 Russula spp](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/06-0290 Russula spp_thumb.jpg)
06-0290 Russula spp
![D361.1 Fungi (Pleurotellus porrigens)](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/D361_thumb.1 Fungi (Pleurotellus porrigens).jpg)
D361.1 Fungi (Pleurotellus porrigens)
![9912 Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/9912 Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)_thumb.jpg)
9912 Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).
![9915 Brick Caps (Hypholoma sublateritium).](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/9915 Brick Caps (Hypholoma sublateritium)_thumb.jpg)
9915 Brick Caps (Hypholoma sublateritium).
![0039 Wax Cap (Hygrocybe spp).](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/0039 Wax Cap (Hygrocybe spp)_thumb.jpg)
0039 Wax Cap (Hygrocybe spp).
![4791 Fungi](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/4791 Fingi (Panaeolis fimtris)_thumb.jpg)
4791 Fungi
![0220 Young Lilac Mycena (Mycena pura)](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/0220 Young Lilac Mycena (Mycena pura)1_thumb.jpg)
0220 Young Lilac Mycena (Mycena pura)
![1125 Puffball releasing spores when hit by raindrops](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/1125 Puffballs releasing spores in the rain_thumb.jpg)
1125 Puffball releasing spores when hit by raindrops
![1126 Puffballs releasing spores when hit by raindrops](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/1126++Puffballs+releasing+spores+in+the+rain1_thumb.jpg)
1126 Puffballs releasing spores when hit by raindrops
![06-7603 Pleurotus spp Possibly Pleurotus cornucopiae](https://amazon.clikpic.com/davebsi/images/06-7603 Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus)_thumb.jpg)