What is Rhizoctonia?
{{Orphan|date=January 2023}} {{automatic taxobox | image = Rhizoctonia solani.jpg | image_caption = Disease of cucumber caused by ''[[Rhizoctonia solani]]'' | taxon = Rhizoctonia | authority = [[Augustin Pyramus de Candolle|DC.]] (1815) | type_species = ''[[Rhizoctonia solani]]'' | type_species_authority = J.G. Kühn (1858) | synonyms = ''Moniliopsis'' <small>Ruhland (1908)</small><br> ''Thanatephorus'' <small>Donk (1956)</small><br> ''Uthatobasidium'' <small>Donk (1956)</small><br> ''Koleroga'' <small>Donk (1958)</small><br> ''Cejpomyces'' <small>Svrcek & Pouzar (1970)</small><br> ''Oncobasidium'' <small>Talbot & Keane (1971)</small><br> ''Ypsilondium'' <small>Donk (1972)</small><br> ''Aquathanatephorus'' <small>Tu & Kimbrough (1978)</small><br> ''Ceratorhiza'' <small>R.T. Moore (1987)</small><br> }} [[File:Root of sugarbeet root rot.jpg|thumb|A picture of root rot of sugarbeet, a disease of sugarbeet caused by Rhizoctonia solani.]] '''Rhizoctonia''' is a type of [[fungi]]. They have long filaments called [[mycelia]] and a root like structure consisting of food reserves, called sclerotia. Rhizoctonia species eat through a process called [[saprotroph]]ic nutrition, as the filaments (mycelia) absorb decayed organic matter through the [[cell wall]]. The species may resort to plant pathogeny, meaning that it can sometimes cause crop [[disease]]s. Some Rhizoctonia species live on the [[root]]s of [[orchid]] plants<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wu|first1=Jianrong|last2=Ma|first2=Huancheng|last3=Lü|first3=Mei|last4=Han|first4=Sufen|last5=Zhu|first5=Youyong|last6=Jin|first6=Hui|last7=Liang|first7=Junfeng|last8=Liu|first8=Li|last9=Xu|first9=Jianping|date=January 2010|title=Rhizoctonia fungi enhance the growth of the endangered orchid Cymbidium goeringii|url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/B09-092|journal=Botany|language=en|volume=88|issue=1|pages=20–29|doi=10.1139/B09-092|issn=1916-2790}}</ref> and exhibit a mutually beneficial relationship with them during orchid germination. The term Rhizoctonia (meaning “root