basidiomycete (redirected from basidiomycetous fungi)

basidiomycete

Any of a large and diverse class of fungi (division Mycota), including jelly and shelf, or bracket, fungi; mushrooms, puffballs, and stinkhorns; and the rusts and smuts. The club-shaped, spore-bearing organ (basidium) is borne on a usually large and conspicuous fruiting body. Basidiomycetes include bird's-nest fungi, whose hollow fruiting bodies resemble nests containing eggs. The 15 species of the order Exobasidiales are parasitic on higher plants, particularly azaleas and rhododendrons. Jelly fungi are so called because they have jellylike, often colourful fruiting bodies. See also fungus.