Club Fungi
Basidiomycetes
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Phylum Basidiomycota
Phylum Basidiomycota
The Club Fungi, or Basidiomycetes, are one of the commonly recognized groups of true fungi, and form a monophyletic group of fungi. This group includes the mushrooms and toadstools, as well as shelf fungi, coral fungi, jelly fungi, stink horns, rusts, smuts, earth stars, and fairy rings. These fungi are major decomposers of plant leaf litter in moist and forested systems, especially with their ability to decompose the lignin in wood. They are found in practically every terrestrial ecosystem, as well as freshwater and marine habitats. Many form mutualistic relationships with the roots of plants (mycorrhizae), but others are parasitic on plants, such as the rusts/smuts.
Ecology and Form
Ecology and Form
Major decomposers of plant litter
The body of a fungus are aggregated hair-like strands called mycelium (plural = mycelia), which creeps along the ground releasing enzymes and digesting plant material for energy.
Basidiomycete mycelium have crosswalls (=septate), and the crosswalls are perforated
In their "vegetative" feeding phase, the mycelia are monokaryotic, in which they have 1 nucleus per cell, which is typical of most eukaryotes. During reproduction, these fungi become dikaryotic, in which they have 2 nuclei per cell. See Life Cycle below for more details.
Clamp connections connect two cells and allow accurate segregation of nuclei during mitosis and growth
Diversity
Diversity
Group with about 25,000 species
Examples include mushrooms, toadstools, shelf fungi, coral fungi, jelly fungi, stink horns, rusts, smuts, earth stars, and fairy rings
“Hymenomycetes”
“Hymenomycetes”
Class Basidomycetes, e.g., Coprinus or Agaricus
e.g Mushrooms, Bracket/shelf fungi, Coral fungi, Jelly fungi, and Tooth fungi
Basidiocarp is the mushroom
Cap or pileus: spore-producing portion
Stalk or stipe: elevates cap above ground
Largest, terrestrial organism?
Largest, terrestrial organism?
One of the largest land organisms is reported to be a honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) growing in Oregon's Blue Mountains
The fungus covers 2,384 acres (965 hectares) or nearly 4 square miles (10 square kilometers)
This organism covers more acreage than Pando, the quaking aspen patch in Utah (106 acres), even though Pando would be greater in weight
The largest organism on Earth is usually reported to be a seagrass patch off Australia, which is 200 sq km or 77 sq miles or over 49,000 acres
Above: Fairy ring around a pine tree
Above: Cap fungus or toadstool (Amanita) basidiocarp
Above: Jelly fungus (Dacrymyces) basidiocarp
Above: Coral fungus basidiocarp
"Gasteromycetes”
"Gasteromycetes”
Class Basidomycetes
Polyphyletic group evolved from hymenomycetes
Basidiospores develop inside the basidioma
Above: Stink horn (Phallus) basidiocarp
Above: Puffball basiocarp
Above: Earth star (Geastrum) basidiocarp
Above: Bird's nest fungus (Cyathus) basidiocarp
Rust/Smuts
Rust/Smuts
Classes Teliomycetes and Ustomycetes
Rusts (Teliomycetes) ~7,000spp.; Smuts (Ustomycetes), ~1,070spp., e.g. Puccinia
Tremendously important due to agricultural damage
e.g. wheat rust, white pine blister, cedar-apple rust, coffee rust & peanut rust; corn smut, wheat bunt smut
Do not form basidioma, but possess dikaryotic hyphae and basidia
Extremely complex lifecycle
Heteroecious: require two different hosts
Autoecious: require one different hosts
Left: apple cedar rust (Gymnosporangium)
Right: white pine blister rust (Cronartium)
Life cycle
Life cycle
Club fungi can reproduce both sexually and asexually
Basidiomycetes exhibit a complex, haplontic life cycle
Sexual reproduction in club fungi begins when monokaryotic mycelia strands come in contact with mycelia from another individual
The tips of the mycelia, from each organism, fuse together. This creates new cells that combine the protoplasm and organelles of both organisms, but the nuclei do not fuse. This is a process called plasmogamy, and creates cells with two nuclei (=dikaryotic or binucleate)
From these fused cells, these two organisms will begin to produce a large fruiting body, called a basidiocarp, such as a mushroom. This basidiocarp continues to grow and mature creating areas of fertile tissue, such as the gills on a mushroom.
Along the edge of the gills are special cells called basidia (singular = basidium). Inside these cells, the two nuclei fuse (called "karyogamy") to form a diploid zygote. This is the only diploid cell in the life cycle.
The diploid zygote will then go through meiosis to produce four haploid spores. These spores are then dispersed into nature
The spores then germinate into monokaryotic mycelia
Above: life cycle of basidiomycetes
Above: Growth of a basidiocarp
Geologic Age
Geologic Age
Devonian - present
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Genomic study uncovers button mushroom's evolutionary and domestication history (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 12Jan2026)
└Genomic signatures of evolution and domestication in the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus (Ling et al, 2026)
Fungus 'rewires' maize plants, causing tumor-like growths by hijacking root formation process (Phys.org 5Jan2026)
└Pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis exploits the lateral root regulators to induce pluripotency in maize shoots (Khan et al., 2026)
Single Mushroom Dose Fights Cancer Depression for 2 Years (Science Blog 16Jun2025)
└Agrawal et al. (2025) Long-term benefits of single-dose psilocybin in depressed patients with cancer
A crown rust fungus could help manage two highly invasive plants in Minnesota (Phys.org 5Mar2024)
└Greatens et al. (2024) Aecial and Telial Host Specificity of Puccinia coronata var. coronata, a Eurasian Crown Rust Fungus of Two Highly Invasive Wetland Species in North America
Coffee Rust Battle Intensifies - (Scientific American 18May2014)
Apple-Cedar Rust (In Defense of Plants 2017)
How mushroom disperse their spores (NY Times, 2017)
Rust: the Fungi that Attack Plants (YouTube 2017)
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