Mushroom Life Cycle

Life cycles are an important part of learning about biology. Make sure your child understand the mushroom life cycle by using this free printable that is labelled with wonderful pictures. To make your lesson even more enjoyable, bring in some real mushrooms for your students to look at.

The life cycle of a fungus includes a fruiting structure that produces spores, the spores themselves and the germination of spores into a new fungus. The exact mechanism differs between sexual and asexual reproduction.

Asexual reproduction in fungi occurs one of two ways. In the first, the mycelium, or body of the fungus, produces spores that develop into new fungi. In the second, the mycelium itself fragments, and each piece becomes a new fungus. Both of these methods of asexual reproduction result in new organisms that are genetic copies of the original and allow for populations to form quickly.