# Biolog: Is there a single word or term subsuming all living organisms that aren't plants/animals?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biolog-is-there-a-single-word-or-term-subsuming-all-living-organisms-that-arent-plants-animals/813632>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 5, 2018, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biolog-is-there-a-single-word-or-term-subsuming-all-living-organisms-that-arent-plants-animals/813632 "2018-05-05T09:28:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biolog-is-there-a-single-word-or-term-subsuming-all-living-organisms-that-arent-plants-animals/813632/41 "2018-05-30T12:58:36Z")

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Steven, you need to know that the mushroom is not the organism, it is the fruiting body (the same way an apple is not the organism, the organism is a tree). A 600 pound mushroom hints at an inconceivably large [mycelium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium). Indeed these can extend for miles (and be thousands of years old, putting them among both the oldest and largest organisms on earth). So yes, there are a small number of organisms bigger than the biggest mushroom, but the mushroom is not what we’re comparing them to.

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