The mushroom spores develop on the gills and when mature are shed. A few of the different gilled mushrooms are shown on the left. Lichens are usually thought of as plants in the same sense as a moss. The fungus provides a structural framework for the algae and protects the algae from dehydration. The algae in turn perform photosynthesis and supply energy both to itself and to its fungal partner.
Lichens come in a variety of forms.
The commonest in the east is the type forming blotches on rocks, walls, and trees. Some lichens consist of thin plates, and some, such as the one on the left, are elongated and branched. The slime molds have traditionally been included as part of the fungi, but their fundamental morphology and biochemistry is now leading scientists to place them as a separate ground of organisms only distantly related to the fungi. The slime molds are curious beasts with both animal and plant like characteristics during different parts of their life cycle. The vegetative part of the life cycle is a large amoeba-like mass called a plasmodium.