Examples of basidia (with explanatory notes following the illustrations)

These drawings show basidia and (except for Auricularia) spores as well. The taxa featured are Dacryopinax spathularia (1), Hyphoderma assimile (2), Amaurodon sp. (3), Auricularia sp. (4), Exidiopsis sp. (5), Thanatephorus cucumeris (6), Amanita phalloides (7), Atheliopsis sp. (8), Sistotrema subtrigonospermum (9), Chondrogaster pachysporus (10), Botryobasidium botryosum (11), Phlebiella sp. (12), Tulasnella sp. (13), Tulasnella sp. (14).

All drawings are to the same scale and the red scale bar indicates a length of 10 micrometres. An a indicates an immature basidium.

In general a basidium is the terminal element on a hypha and in figures 2, 3,4,5, 6, 10 and 13a you can see small fragments of basidium-producing hyphae at the bases of the basidia. In a few genera (such as Phlebiella, figure 12) basidia generally develop as a lateral outgrowth.