A spore produced by and released from a basidium; the reproductive unit that spreads basidiomycete fungi through the air or environment.
From 'basidium' plus Greek 'sporos' (seed). The term was formalized in the 1800s to distinguish spores made by basidia from other types of fungal spores like ascospores.
Billions of basidiospores float through the air every time you walk through a forest—they're like fungal seeds, produced on those club-shaped cells called basidia, and when they land somewhere moist, they start growing new fungi from scratch.
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