Sources: http://www.microbeworld.org/microbes/fungi    http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=fungi&gbv=2  http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=BIO704 
Fungi: a taxonomic kingdom, or in some classification schemes a division of the kingdom Plantae, comprising all the fungus groups and sometimes also the slime molds.
Hyphae: Any of the threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus.

Fruiting body: an organ specialized for producing spores 

 
budding: reproduction of some unicellular organisms (such as yeasts) by growth and specialization followed by the separation by constriction of a part of the parent 

Lichen: any complex organism of the group Lichenes, composed of a fungus in symbiotic union with an alga and having a greenish, gray, yellow, brown, or blackish thallus that grows in leaflike, crustlike, or branching forms on rocks, trees, etc.

 
mushrooms Clockwise from top left: Amanita muscaria, a basidiomycete; Sarcoscypha coccinea, an ascomycete; black bread mold, a zygomycete; a chytrid;a Penicillium conidiophore
 

Fungal Growth and Reproduction

When the spore caps at the end of spore stalks fully mature, they burst. The spores may simply drop in the same area, or be carried by the wind or rain to new spots.

Where they land, spores will germinate like seeds. But if they don’t land on a suitable food source or in ideal conditions, the spores can survive in a dormant state for extended periods, waiting for more favorable conditions or to be carried to a better spot.

Fungi come in a variety of shapes and sizes and different types. They can range from individual cells to enormous chains of cells that can stretch for miles.