Fungi of the Chicago Region

The 24 counties of the Chicago Region support approximately 1,000 kinds of larger fungi.

Kinds of fungi included in vPlants

Macrofungi are mushrooms, puffballs, brackets, and other fungi forming visible fruiting bodies. Fruiting bodies are reproductive structures, often short-lived, produced by the longer-lived mycelium living in the soil, wood, or other substrate (food source). Unlike plants, the identification of species and the source of specimen data and photos are primarily based on fruiting bodies rather than the entire organism.

The Kingdom Fungi [external link] is comprised of several major groups. Many macrofungi treated here, particularly mushrooms, are members of the Phylum Basidiomycota [external link] (Class Hymenomycetes). Other fungi found in vPlants, such as morels and cup fungi, are of the Phylum Ascomycota [external link] (Class Euascomycetes).

Fungi not included in vPlants at the present time

Lichens (fungi symbiotic with algae) and the microfungi that do not form large fruiting bodies (or lack them), such as yeasts, molds, powdery mildews, rusts, and soil fungi, are not yet included in vPlants. Also absent are the fungus-like protozoa groups: the slime molds and water molds.

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