Definition of Basidium

1. Noun. A small club-shaped structure typically bearing four basidiospores at the ends of minute projections; unique to basidiomycetes.

Generic synonyms: Reproductive Structure
Terms within: Hypobasidium
Specialized synonyms: Promycelium
Derivative terms: Basidial

Definition of Basidium

1. n. A special oblong or pyriform cell, with slender branches, which bears the spores in that division of fungi called Basidiomycetes, of which the common mushroom is an example.

Definition of Basidium

1. Noun. (mycology) A small structure, shaped like a club, found in the Basidiomycota division of fungi, that bears four spores at the tips of small projections. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Basidium

1. a structure on a fungus [n -IA] : BASIDIAL [adj]

Medical Definition of Basidium

1. Club shaped organ involved in sexual reproduction in basidiomycete fungi (mushrooms, toadstools etc.). Bears four haploid basidiospores at its tip. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Basidium

basidiole
basidioles
basidiolichen
basidioma
basidiomata
basidiome
basidiomes
basidiomycetes
basidiomycetous
basidiomycetous fungi
basidiospores
basidiosporous
basifacial
basifacial axis
basification
basifications
basified
basifier
basifiers
basifies
basifixed
basifugal
basify
basifying
basigynia
basigynium

Literary usage of Basidium

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Botanical Gazette by University of Chicago, JSTOR (Organization) (1906)
"As this plant so closely resembles a four-spored species, it seemed desirable to study the nuclear phenomena in the basidium to determine how the behavior ..."

2. Minnesota Plant Diseases by Edward Monroe Freeman (1905)
"basidium-bearing Fungi. Jff The stalked or basidium-bearing fungi ... The cell or cells of the thread which bear the stalks are known as the basidium. ..."

3. Synopsis of the British Basidiomycetes: A Descriptive Catalogue of the by Worthington George Smith (1908)
"F, basidium, spores and ... entire and in section, one-half natural size. j, basidium, spores and ..."

4. Sexual Reproduction and the Organization of the Nucleus in Certain Mildews by Robert Almer Harper (1905)
"... and basidium, since the process of conjugate division has worked back, as described above, from its origin at the close of the sporophyte generation to ..."

5. Report of the Annual Meeting (1892)
"At this early stage each basidium contains a small quantity of protoplasm and one or more vacuoles. The two nuclei fuse together to form a single large ..."

6. Botany for High Schools by George Francis Atkinson (1910)
"THE basidium FUNGI (CLASS BASIDIOMYCETES). The Smuts* 441. ... If so, the smuts would belong to the basidium series representing very low forms of the same. ..."

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