Taxonomy

Characteristics of the Fungi

We never eat bread cookies

For cookies have yeast,

And one little bite

Turns a man to a beast

O, can you imagine

A sadder disgrace

Than a man in the gutter

With crumbs on his face?

-- Song of the Salvation Army (trad.)

So, what about all those characteristics mentioned in the last section? The following is a list of the most commonly cited characters shared by most Fungi:

• The Fungi are eukayotes, which may exist in nature as either single and multi-celled organisms, or in both at different points in the the life cycle.
• Fungi are avascular -- no specialized respiratory, digestive or transport systems beyond the hyphae themselves.
• Most fungi grow as tubular filaments called hyphae. A connected mass of hyphae is a mycelium.
• Fungi have a vegetative body called a thallus, composed of hyphae.
• The walls of hyphae are often reinforced with chitin, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine.
• Fungal cell membranes contain ergosterol, rather than cholesterol.
• The Fungi have a unique biosynthetic pathway for lysine.
• Fungi produce a unique form of tubulin in connection with nuclear division.
• Fungi have small nuclei with very little repetitive DNA
• Mitosis occcurs without dissolution of the nuclear membrane.
• Fungi are never autotrophs. No fungus has chlorophyll or chloroplasts.
• Fungi are usually found either as opportunistic saprophytes (living on dead organic matter) or in some parasitic or symbiotic relationship with plants or other autotroph.
• Fungi digest food outside their bodies: they release enzymes into the surrounding environment (exoenzymes), breaking down organic matter into a form the fungus can absorb
• food reserves stores as glycogen (like animals), not starch (like plants).
• Fungi reproduce by means of spores, budding, or fragmentation.
• Spores may be either sexual or aesexual.
• Spores may be used as a dormant, resting phase, like bacterial spores

Legume is the name for the seed of the leguminous shrub Cajanus cajan, which also is called green, no-eye and pigeon pea.

Specifically, such a seed is sheltered within a pod. The pod opens into two valves. The seed will be found on the valve edges.

Prunus avium is the scientific, Latin or binomial name for the Sweet cherry tree.

The tree's native range in Europe extends from the British Isles southwards into the northwestern African countries of Morocco and Tunisia and northwards into Norway's Trondheimsfjord region. Its native range additionally spreads eastward into western Asia east of the Caucasus Mountains and also at its birthplace in northern Iran. There also is supposed to be a small population in the western Himalayas.

All organisms (animals, plants, fungi, protozoa, algae, bacteria, archaebacteria, viruses) have scientific/Latin names. These names consist of two parts, genus and species. The name can describe the anatomy/morphology of the organism, the type of organism it is, provide information as to its distribution or who the organism is named in honour of. The 'Latin' name can be Latin or Greek or a mixture of both.

Canis lupus (grey wolf) gives information as to the type of animal. Canis means dog and lupus means wolf.

Rhinoceros unicornis (Great Indian rhinoceros) gives information as to the animal's anatomy. Rhino means nose, Ceros means horn. Uni means one and Cornis means horn.

Equus burchellii (Burchell's zebra) is named in honour of its discoverer, Burchell.

Burchellia bubalina, a South African plant with charming apricot-coloured flowers, ascribes its whole genus to Burchell. Attenborosaurus (a plesiosaur) is named in honour of Sir David Attenborough.

Morus capensis (Cape gannet) is a seabird from the Cape of South Africa. Capensis means from the Cape.

Alligator mississippiensis is the American alligator, whose species name shows it to be from the Mississippi River. Mississippiensis means from the Mississippi.

This was a question in the Daily Express Big Monday Crossword on Dec 24 2007. So I looked in Wiki - no answer! However, I found this definition in Farleys Free Online Dictionary:

Briar or Brier

1. A Mediterranean shrub or small tree (Erica arborea) whose hard, woody roots are used to make tobacco pipes.

2. A pipe made from the root of this plant or from a similar wood. ---- [French bruyère, heath, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *brcria, from Late Latin brcus, heather, of Celtic origin; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.]

The answer ERICA fitted the crossword, so I guess that's it!

Fungi generally have the following characteristics:

1. They are eukaryotes. This means they have a nucleus which contains their genetic material (unlike bacteria, which do not have a nucleus).

2. They are made of thin threads called hyphae. The hyphae form a branching network called a mycelium. However some fungi are made of a single cell eg yeast.

3. The hyphae have a cell wall (like plant cells) made of a material called chitin (unlike plant cells).

4. The hyphae are often multinucleate. This means that the cytoplasm is not divided up into separate cells, but contins many individual nuclei.

5. Fungi do not contain chlorophyll, the green pigment found in plant cells. This means they cannot make their own food by photosynthesis (like plants do) but have to obtain ready-made food (like animals do).

6. Most fungi are saprotrophic (also called saprophytic), which means they obtain their food by releasing digestive enzymes onto the food and then absorbingthe digested food. Some fungi live as parasites on other living organisms and get their food from their host. Others live as mutualists, forming a close relationship with another organism in which both benefit eg lichens are formed by a mutualistic relationship between fungi and algae.