fun'ji, a general name for those flowerless plants that have no chlorophyll in their tissues and hence are unable to live independently, but must prey upon other plants or animals. The number of different species is enormous. Perhaps 50,000 have been described, and it is probable that this is not more than one-third of the entire number. They grow wherever they can find organic matter on which to subsist and are to be found floating in the air at all times, living in exposed water and inhabiting the soil everywhere. Some species are beneficial to man, but others are intensely destructive. See BACTERIA AND BACTERIOLOGY; RUSTS; MILDEWS; YEASTS; MUSHROOMS.