Any of a large and diverse class of fungi (division Mycota), including jelly and shelf, or bracket, fungi; mushroom s, puffball s, and stinkhorns; and the rusts and smut s.
The club-shaped, spore -bearing organ (basidium) is borne on a usually large and conspicuous fruiting body. Basidiomycetes include bird's-nest fungi, whose hollow fruiting bodies resemble nests containing eggs. The 15 species of the order Exobasidiales are parasitic on higher plants, particularly azalea s and rhododendron s. Jelly fungi are so called because they have jellylike, often colourful fruiting bodies. See also fungus .