Fungi (Topical Term)

Handbook to strategy 1 fungal species in the Northwest forest plan, 1999: p. I-3 (Fungi are an incredibly diverse group of nonphotosynthetic organisms that absorb their food, characteristically form branching threadlike cells called hyphae (yeasts are exceptions). They inhabit every possible environment. Although fungi have been traditionally grouped with plants, they have no direct evolutionary connection. More than 35 years ago, fungi were deemed distinct from plants and placed in their own kingdom. The Kingdom Fungi is second only to insects in numbers of species.)

Random House (Fungi, a taxonomic kingdom, or in some classification schemes a division of the kingdom Plantae, comprising all the fungus groups and sometimes also the slime molds. Also called Mycota; fungus, pl. fungi, funguses)