SPORE 

Fungi use spores to survive and spread to new sources of food. Spores are not seeds. A seed contains a small form of a plant, plus some food to help it get started, wrapped in a hard shell. A seed is made of many cells.

Most spores are single cells protected by a cell wall. Some spores are made of several cells, but the largest spore is still smaller than the smallest seed (made by orchids).

There is no microscopic fungus inside a spore. A spore contains all the chemicals needed to make its kind of fungus. When conditions are right, the spore starts to grow and creates a web-like mycelium, the fungus individual.

Further Reading:

• Ingold, C.T. 1971. Fungal Spores. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

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Last update: 25 Oct 96. © 1996, Robert Fogel, Ivins, UT 84738.