Botany · Ch 2 — Biological Classification
Ascomycetes
Ascomycetes
Commonly known as sac-fungi, the Ascomycetes are mostly multicellular (for example, Penicillium) or rarely unicellular (for example, yeast, Saccharomyces). They are saprophytic, decomposers, parasitic or coprophilous (growing on dung).
The mycelium is branched and septate. Their reproduction shows two kinds of spores:
- asexual spores are the conidia, produced exogenously on special mycelium called conidiophores; on germination, conidia produce mycelium
- sexual spores are the ascospores, produced endogenously in sac-like asci (singular: ascus); these asci are arranged in different types of fruiting bodies called ascocarps …
Drawn by us to help you understand the concept clearly, and verified to make sure it's accurate. For exams, practice from your textbook's own diagram.
This figure presents three fungi, each representing a different class. In (a) Mucor is a phycomycete, seen as a mass of fine, aseptate coenocytic threads (mycelium) that produce spores endogenously within sporangia. In (b) Aspergillus is an ascomycete; the drawing shows its conidiophore, a special upright mycelium bearing chains of asexual conidia produced exogenously at the tip. In (c) Agaricus, the common mushroom, is a basidiomycete with the familiar fruiting body called a basidiocarp — a stalk topped by an umbrella-like cap whose underside carries the basidia t …