How many species of fungi are there in Ukraine and the world?

When we think of mushrooms, we picture a few dozen familiar species from the basket. But that's a tiny fraction of the real fungal kingdom: there are far more fungi on Earth than plants, and most of them still haven't been described by science.

Let's look at how many species of fungi are known in the world and in Ukraine, and how many of them interest a forager.

How many species of fungi are there in the world

Science has described about 150,000 species of fungi. But that's just the tip of the iceberg: mycologists estimate that there are actually between 2 and 4 million species of fungi on Earth. In other words, less than 10% are known — and thousands of new ones are described every year.

For comparison: there are probably several times more species of fungi than species of plants. Fungi are a separate kingdom of life, closer to animals than to plants; for more on whether fungi are plants or animals, see our separate article.

How many species of fungi are there in Ukraine

Ukraine has about 15,000 described species of fungi (including microscopic ones, lichens and molds). Of these, macromycetes — the ones that form visible fruiting bodies and interest foragers — number several thousand.

How many mushrooms are edible

• Edible species among Ukrainian macromycetes number several hundred, but only a few dozen are picked regularly.
• Poisonous — also several hundred, and deadly ones — about ten (above all the death cap and some amanitas).
• The rest are inedible or haven't been studied for edibility.

That's exactly why the forager's golden rule is to take only species you know well.

Why new fungi are still being discovered

Most fungi are microscopic or live hidden in soil and wood. Modern methods (DNA analysis) show that even familiar "species" are often actually groups of several close relatives. So the fungal kingdom will keep surprising scientists for a long time. You'll find more fun facts about mushrooms in a separate article.

Sources

• “Key to the Fungi of Ukraine” (Kyiv, Naukova Dumka publishing house).
• Fungus on Wikipedia.
• Fungal biodiversity on Wikipedia.