Some moulds growing on foodstuffs produce toxins that can cause tumours and other long-term medical problems. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, Fly Agaric may have been taken as long as 3500 years ago. Many species are used for food, for example in much of Europe. Silver Birch can form root associations with up to 100 different fungi, notably Fly Agaric. Orchids, the most numerous family in the plant kingdom, all have mycorrhiza.
Lichens are products of a symbiosis between a fungus and a unicellular alga.
162 cm in diameter is recorded from Britain and one of 158 cm in diameter from North America. The average fruiting body produces 7,000,000,000,000 spores. Help is gratefully acknowledged from Brian Spooner, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.