Basidiomycota I: Evolution, Morphology, and Biology

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental terminology, reproductive structures, ultrastructure, taxonomy, and morphological types of the Basidiomycota.

Basidiomycota

The phylum of club fungi in Dikarya characterized by producing sexual spores externally on a specialized, club-shaped organ called a basidium.

Basidium

A club-shaped sexual reproductive organ characteristic of Basidiomycota, from which sexual spores (basidiospores) are externally produced on sterigmata.

Basidiospore

A sexual fungal spore produced externally on a basidium, typically released via forcible discharge in numbers of four per basidium.

Sterigma

A small horn-like projection that arises from the apex of a basidium to support, develop, and eventually discharge a basidiospore.

Holobasidia

A type of basidium that consists of a single undivided cell without septa.

Phragmobasidia

A septate basidium composed of more than one cell divided by internal cross-walls.

Clamp connection

A specialized hook-like somatic hyphal structure that preserves and accurately segregates two sexually compatible nuclei to maintain the $n+n$ (dikaryotic) state during cell division.

Dolipore

A specialized septal pore with barrel-shaped swollen margins found in Basidiomycota hyphae, typically flanked on both sides by membranous caps termed parenthosomes.

Parenthosome

A curved, barrel-shaped structure formed from modified endoplasmic reticulum that caps each side of a dolipore septum.

Hilar appendage

The distinct projection at the base of a basidiospore where it attaches to the sterigma and where Buller's drop initially forms.

Buller's drop

A water droplet that forms by condensation at the hilar appendage of a mature basidiospore and coalesces rapidly with an adaxial drop, catapulting the spore off the sterigma by surface tension.

Basidiocarp

The multicellular complex fruiting body that houses the basidia and hymenium within the Basidiomycota.

Agaricomycotina

The subphylum of Basidiomycota that contains the vast majority of mushroom-forming fungi, divided into four classes: Agaricomycetes, Dacrymycetes, Tremellomycetes, and Bartheletiomycetes.

Pucciniomycotina

The subphylum of Basidiomycota that encompasses the rust fungi.

Ustilagomycotina

The subphylum of Basidiomycota that encompasses the smut fungi.

Wallemiomycotina

A subphylum of Basidiomycota consisting of halophilic and xerophilic fungi that are strictly asexual or have only cryptic sexual capabilities.

Bartheletiomycetes

A relict, monotypic class of dimorphic Basidiomycota comprising a single known non-pathogenic species specific to the Ginkgo tree.

Stipe

The stalk or stem that elevates and supports the cap (pileus) of a mushroom basidiocarp.

Pileus

The cap of a mushroom basidiocarp that bears and protects the spore-producing hymenium beneath it.

Conk

A sessile, bracket-like mushroom fruiting body that lacks a stipe and attaches directly to a woody substrate.

Gleba

The enclosed, non-persistent, spore-bearing internal tissue mass characteristic of gasteroid fungi like puffballs.

Agaricoid hymenium

A hymenial architecture characterized by blade-like gills (lamellae) that radiate beneath the pileus.

Boletoid hymenium

A hymenial architecture formed by vertically oriented sponge-like tubes opening into pores on the underside of the cap.

Hydnoid hymenium

A hymenial architecture consisting of downward-pointing tooth-like spines or fine denticles.

Cantharelloid hymenium

A hymenial architecture featuring blunt, shallow, vein-like ridges or folds rather than true gills.

Gasteroid mushroom

A group of fungi whose basidia and basidiospores develop internally within an enclosed gleba rather than being forcibly shot from an exposed hymenial surface.