Basidiomycetes: characteristics, parts and examples

Basidiomycetes are a fungal division. They are very varied in terms of form, but they have an important common characteristic: all basidiomycetes They house their spores in basidia -shaped structureswhich in Greek means Garrote, from here the name of the group. These structures are called basidia.

Fungi are divided into two ways. First we have The myceliumwhich is underground and is composed of septated hyphae. This mycelium can also penetrate leaf litter, wood, decomposition animals or plant tissues. Basidiomycetes are characteristic of having a pore among the hyphae called Dolíporo and has the function of regulating what it travels between cells. The other way is The fruitful bodywhich is the one of importance to classify and distinguish between the different fungi. This is what we commonly know as a fungus.

In these other posts you can learn about the Fungi Kingdom: what is, characteristics, classification and examples and the classification of fungi.

The fruitful body, which is the structure that stands out from the earth, is very varied but has a typical structure:

• Foot or stipe where the fungus is supported.
• Ring which can be generated as growth estima in the stipe.
• Pyleum or hat which is where lamellae are inserted.
• Hymenium which contains the spores.
• Universal veilwhich is a thin layer that surrounds the fungus when it is about to sprout.
• VOLVA that may or may not appear at the base of the stipe. It is a residue of the universal veil.

However, certain basic basic species can lack this basic structure. It can occur with the following forms:

• In sheetswithout requiring stipe. They are commonly attached to tree trunks.
• In bracketslike the plasters.
• In spheres Without stipe or sheets, such as bejines.
• With coral structures present in jelly fungi.
• Some may even be Zoomorphslike the faláceas, whose name gives a track of what they resemble.

These structures that are part of the fruitful body produce spores and, according to the structure, the dispersion will be different. For example, those who have sheets will wear the wind, while the vines use rain drops to expel their spores. Some may detach odors that attract animals to consume them and thus spores are dispersed when the animal defers.

Here you can read more about what are the spores and about the structure of fungi.

The classification of basidiomycetes divides them into 52 orders and 177 familiesbut then we count on some types in the following orders:

Agaricals

The most edible and poisonous mushrooms. His fruitful body is fleshy. Many have a classic stipe with umbrella, but others may occur as spheres or sheets. Some striking examples of this group are:

• Silvestre mushroom (Agaricus Campestris): It is common in Eurasia and North America. It has the rounded pyleus, short stipe and pink sheets that become cafes with age.
• Amanita Muscaria: Among poisonous basidiomycetes is the famous Amanita. It has the pyleus of intense red color, with white points and a stipe of the same color. It is very toxic to animals that can ingest it, from here its red alert color.

BULLETALS

Almost all of these fungi have stipe and pyleus. They are fleshy and most live associated with trees or dead wood. Their hymenians can be porous or laminar.

• Edible ticket (Boletus edulis): It measures 10 to 11 centimeters and is cosmopolitan. His stipe is white and his pyle is coffee.
• Wet rot (Coniophora Puteana): It can be seen in wet wood as a warty coffee layer. The rot that we see is really a fungus.

Polyporales

Although they have very different characteristics among them, most are similar to wood, both in appearance and hardness.

• Plaster (Fomes fomentarius): It has the shape of a horse helmet and feeds on the wood of birch and deciduous, of which it is held. It is very woody and perennial.

Geastral

They are called Earth stars. They have an outer layer that is torn around a sporial sack in which there is a central pore where the spores come out.

• Arched land star (Geastrum fornicatum): It is blue and measures 10 centimeters. His arms remain united to the ground and can be found in Eurasia and North America.

Headphones

They have dividing membranes in the basidia that divide them into four cameras, each with a spore.

• Judas ear (Auricula-Judae headset): It grows on dead wood and looks ears. They are of gelatinous consistency with velvety exterior and rough interior.

To learn more, we recommend you read what edible fungi are

Sexual reproduction It occurs when two haploid hyphae come together to form a new diploid hyphae. This will form the diploid mycelium that can be maintained like this for several years. Then, in the fruitful body some hyphae can merge their nuclei to create diploid nuclei that will go through meiosis to create the spores. This occurs within the basidia, structure that we mentioned earlier.

In the case of the reproduction asexual They reproduce through spores, which are the reproductive unit. These spores are divided by cell mythosis to form new basidiomycetes. They can stay latent until they find a prosperous place to develop.

Now that you know basidiomycetes better, and even their reproduction, you can read more about how fungi reproduce in this other article.

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