The document discusses the club fungi (Basidiomycota), a taxonomic division of fungi that reproduce sexually through specialized club-shaped cells called basidia. Basidia normally bear four external meiospores and are found on the gills under the cap of mushrooms. One example is the fairy ring fungus, whose underground mycelium depletes soil nitrogen as it grows outward in a circle, forming a fairy ring where fruiting bodies appear. Basidiomycota are important as they include edible mushrooms and produce spores via basidia after the fusion and meiosis of genetic material from two mating strains.

1. THE CLUB FUNGI
GROUP 3

2. 
are filamentous fungi composed
of hyphae (except for yeasts), and
reproducing sexually via the formation
of specialized club-shaped
end cellscalled basidia that normally
bear external meiospores (usually
four).

4. The basidiomycota are mushroom-producing
fungi with developing, club-shaped fruiting
bodies called basidia on the gills under its
cap.

6. 
The best-known fairy ring fungus has the
scientific name Marasmius oreades. The body
of this fungus, its mycelium, is underground
and grows outward in a circle. As it grows,
the mycelium depletes the soil of nitrogen,
causing the mycelia to grow away from the
center, leading to the “fairy ring” of fruiting
bodies where there is adequate soil nitrogen.

7. 

Basidiomycota
a taxonomic division within the kingdom Fungi:
30,000 species of fungi that produce spores from a basidium

8. 
a small structure, shaped like a club, found
in the Basidiomycota phylum of fungi, that
bears four spores at the tips of small
projections

9. 
a sexually-reproductive spore produced by
fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota

10. a
fruiting body that protrudes
from the ground, known as
a mushroom, which has
a developing basidia on the
gills under its cap

11. a
fungus of the phylum
Basidiomycota, which
produces sexual spores on a
basidium

13. 




The majority of edible fungi belong to the
Phylum Basidiomycota.
The basidiomycota includes shelf
fungus, toadstools, and smuts and rusts.
Unlike most fungi, basidiomycota reproduce sexually
as opposed to asexually.
Two different mating strains are required for the
fusion of genetic material in the basidiumwhich is
followed by meiosis producing haploid basidiospores.
Mycelia of different mating strains combine to
produce a secondary mycelium that contains haploid
basidiospores in what is called the dikaryotic
stage, where the fungi remains until
abasidiocarp (mushroom) is generated with the
developing basidia on the gills under its cap.