This large and diverse phylum include mushrooms and toadstools, bracket fungi, puffballs, earthstars and stinkhorns, club and coral fungi, tooth fungi, jelly fungi, rusts and smuts and certain yeasts. Most of the common fungi we see belong either here or under Ascomycota.
The basidiomycetes can be divided into the following classes:
Class Agaricomycetes* – Parasitic, pathogenic, symbiotic, or saprotrophic, mushroom forming fungi. Contains most of the common species we see.
Class Agaricostilbomycetes – Parasitic or saprotrophic
Class Atractiellomycetes – Parasitic or saprotrophic, many are aquatic
Class Classiculomycetes – Parasitic, saprotrophic,
Class Cryptomycocolacomycetes – Parasitic (eg on insects), some are mycoparasitic
Class Cystobasidiomycetes – Parasitic on plants, some are pathogenic in humans and animals or saprotrophic
Class Entorrhizomycetes – Pathogenic or saprotrophic on roots of plants
Class Exobasidiomycetes – Parasitic and pathogenic on plants, includes smut fungi
Class Geminibasidiomycetes – Some heat resistant, yeast like
Class Malasseziomycetes
Class Microbotryomycetes – Many are plant pathogens or parasitic on plants, some are mycoparasitic; includes some yeasts
Class Mixiomycetes – Parasitic or saprotrophic
Class Pucciniomycetes – Parasitic on plants, some saprotrophic
Class Tremellomycetes – Parasitic or saprotrophic, can also be pathogenic
Class Tritirachiomycetes
Class Ustilaginomycetes – Can be both parasitic and saprotrophic, includes smut fungi
Class Wallemiomycetes – Includes moulds that are pathogenic in humans
The classes and orders where I have photos are listed below with links to the various pages with the photos. Identifying fungi is difficult so some of the species I have found have only been confidently identified at the Genus level. The BMS’s 2019 list of English names for fungi has been mostly used for both Latin and English names.
Stereum hirsutum, hairy curtain crust – Hambledon Common, October 2019
Stereum hirsutum, hairy curtain crust – Waggoners Wells, October 2019
Stereum hirsutum, hairy curtain crust
Various stages and colours of Stereum hirsutum, hairy curtain crust.
