Nature Atlas

How Nature Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Species

Smut Fungus

Fungi

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

Smuts are multicellular fungi defined by the large numbers of teliospores they produce, taking their common name from a Germanic word for dirt because of their dark, thick-walled, dust-like spores. Most described smuts belong to one of two orders, Ustilaginales or Tilletiales, within the class Ustilaginomycetes, which together account for seven of the fifteen orders in that subphylum. Smuts are grouped with the other basidiomycete fungi on the basis of shared features of sexual reproduction.

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.