The terms mold and mildew confuse some non-biologists. Mold and mildew are common names used to refer to those fungi whose body is made of a network of filaments (referred to as mycelium; plural, mycelia). Mold and mildew are the same thing. Although, the term mildew is occasionally used to refer to fungi that grow in indoor environment and on fabrics, it strictly refers to a plant disease where the fungus causing the disease is seen as a growth on the surface of the host; for example, powdery mild and downy mildew.
Mold is sometimes combined with adjectives to refer to some common molds. For example: black-mold (Aspergillus niger), blue-mold of citrus (Penicillium italicum), blue-mold of apple (Penicillium expansum); green-mold of citrus (Penicillium digitatum), bread-mold (Chrysonillia sitophila, Rhizopus, Mucor), grey-mold of snowdrop (Botrytis cinerea), white-mold of sweet pea (Hyalodendron album), tomato leaf-mold (Fulvia fulva), and pin-mold (Mucor and other related moulds). The term mold can be spelt with or without a “u” depending on whether one is using British or American English.
Mildew can also be combined with other terms to refer to plant diseases for example, powdery mildew or downy mildew.
Fungi include yeasts (which are non-filamentous and therefore not molds), molds/mildew, tree bracket fungi, the truffles and the mushrooms.
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