Funguses

Any of a host of related organisms, of which the most familiar kinds are mushrooms and toadstools. Mushrooms in particular were a great favourite of the Hobbits, and in the Shire they were widely grown and consumed with enthusiasm. Less edible kinds of fungus could also be found across Middle-earth, notably in the darkness beneath the trees of Mirkwood, where even the starving Dwarves of Thorin's Company were not tempted to try eating them. Funguses like these were doubtless found in other forests, too, especially in dark and ancient woods like the Forest of Fangorn or the Old Forest on the borders of the Shire.

The word 'fungus' has two correct plurals in English: either 'funguses' or 'fungi'. The Latin-derived 'fungi' is probably the more usual plural in common use, but Tolkien preferred 'funguses' in The Hobbit, and so we follow the same word choice here.