Fungi are simple microscopic plants which contain no chlorophyll. They are at least 100,000 different species of fungi. Their spores or reproductive bodies are everywhere and await only proper conditions of moisture and temperature to germinate, grow and reproduce. Fungi cause staining and weakening of many types of materials. The best way to control the growth of mould is to maintain relative humidity below 70-80% and to provide good air movement.

A group of thallophytic plant-like organisms of low organization, destitute of chlorophyll, in which reproduction is mainly accomplished by means of asexual spores, which are produced in a great variety of ways, though sexual reproduction is known to occur in certain Phycomycetes, or so-called algal fungi. They include the molds, mildews, rusts, smuts, mushrooms, toadstools, puff balls, and the allies of each. In the two-kingdom classification system they were classed with the plants, but in the modern five-kingdom classification, they are not classed as plants, but are classed in their own separate kingdom fungi, which includes the phyla Zygomycota (including simple fungi such as bread molds), Ascomycota (including the yeasts), Basidiomycota (including the mushrooms, smuts, and rusts), and Deuteromycota (the fungi imperfecti). Some of the forms, such as the yeasts, appear as single-celled microorganisms, but all of the fungi are are eukaryotic, thus distinguishing them from the prokaryotic microorganisms of the kingdon Monera.

Saprophytic and parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts and mushrooms.

Group, at the kingdom level, in the classification of life. Multicellular organisms that have a eukaryotic cell type, mitochondria, and a cell wall composed of chitin and other noncellulose polysaccharides.