评论
打印
真菌是一个很大的生物类群，大约有10万种，其中包括各种霉菌、酵母菌等，还有我们平时很熟悉的蘑菇——伞菌，它们在整个生物界中占有非常特殊的地位。
虽然在很早以前，科学家们已把它勉强归入到植物界中，但关于真菌究竟是植物还是动物的争论，长期以来一直没有停止过。
有关真菌的最早论述，应追溯到公元前4世纪，著名的古希腊学者亚里土多德，首次在书中描述了真菌的特性。大约过了3000年后，著名科学家达普林尼把蘑菇分为可食蘑菇和有毒蘑菇两类。然而，人们对真菌的认识，长期以来一直徘徊在很幼稚的水平，仅仅知道，它是一类没有叶绿素、不能进行光合作用、常常依靠腐生或寄生的生物，但无法确定它究竟是植物还是动物，没有一个人能为它下一个权威性的确切定义。
【英文原文】
What are fungi, plants or animals?
Well, mushrooms are merely one of many types of fungi. Not all fungi grow in soil. However, mushrooms and other fungi do resemble plants in many ways, so much so that scientists long classified fungi plants, but they know better now.
Eating Habits
Where it truly counts, fungi differ from plants significantly. One major difference lies in how they eat. Plants are characterized by their ability to make their own food, using chlorophyll, sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
Fungi cannot make their own food. They have to consume other living or once living organisms. Fungi aren’t animals either, but for what it’s worth, some scientists consider them more akin to animals than plants. It’s even thought that fungi and animals may share a similar single-celled ancestor.
A major defining difference between the two kingdoms, however, is that while fungi do indeed have to consume other material, they don’t have stomachs like animals. Fungi have special cells that allow them to absorb their food.
