Noun
comprises fungi bearing the spores on a basidium; includes Gasteromycetes (puffballs) and Tiliomycetes comprising the orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts) and Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, toadstools, agarics and bracket fungi); in some classification systems considered a division of kingdom Fungi
Source: WordNetAccording to a 2008 estimate, Basidiomycota comprise three subphyla (including six unassigned classes) 16 classes, 52 orders, 177 families, 1,589 genera, and 31,515 species. Source: Internet
Basidiomycota are filamentous fungi composed of hyphae (except for yeasts), and reproduce sexually via the formation of specialized club-shaped end cells called basidia that normally bear external meiospores (usually four). Source: Internet
However, some Basidiomycota reproduce asexually in addition or exclusively. Source: Internet
Smuts with both a yeast phase and an infectious hyphal state are examples of dimorphic Basidiomycota. Source: Internet
Aside from yeast anamorphs, and uredinia, aecia and pycnidia, some Basidiomycota form other distinctive anamorphs as parts of their life-cycles. Source: Internet
In some Basidiomycota the spores are not ballistic, and the sterigmata may be straight, reduced to stubbs, or absent. Source: Internet