basidiomycete

[buh-sid-ee-oh-mahy-seet, -mahy-seet]

noun

1. Mycology.,  any of a group of fungi constituting the phylum Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi (or, in older classification schemes, the class Basidiomycetes of the kingdom Plantae), characterized by bearing the spores on a basidium, including the smuts, rust, mushrooms, and puffballs.

basidiomycete

/ bæˌsɪdɪəʊmaɪˈsiːt /

noun

1. any fungus of the phylum Basidiomycota (formerly class Basidiomycetes ), in which the spores are produced in basidia. The group includes boletes, puffballs, smuts, and rusts

basidiomycete

1. Any of various fungi belonging to the phylum Basidomycota, bearing sexually produced spores on a basidium. All hyphae of basidiomycetes are divided into segments by septa and go through three stages of development. In the final stage, each segment has two nuclei, and the hyphae grow to produce basidia and disperse basidiospores. The basidiomycetes are the most familiar forms of fungi and include mushrooms, puffballs, shelf fungi, rusts, and smuts.

Other Word Forms

• basidiomycetous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of basidiomycete¹

1895–1900; < New Latin Basidiomycetes; basidium, -o-, -mycete

Word History and Origins

Origin of basidiomycete¹

C19: from _basidi ( _um ) + _-mycete

Example Sentences

But according to a study published Thursday in Science, single-celled basidiomycete yeasts provide even more support.

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The next task for the researchers is understanding whether basidiomycete yeasts play a role in building the lichens’ structure.

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That’s when they found that the yellow lichen with vulpinic acid had a much higher number of genes belonging to a basidiomycete yeast.

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They screened other species of lichens, and found that different species carried genetically distinct basidiomycete yeasts.

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These findings now yielded a more interesting question than the original one: How prevalent is the association between basidiomycete yeasts and lichens?

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