Smuts |
Fungal category. Ustilaginales. Basidiomycetes. | |
| Distribution | Where Found | Mode of Dissemination |
| Ubiquitous; cosmopolitan. Two families, 50 genera, and 950 species. |
On cereal crops, grasses, weeds, other fungi, and on other flowering plants. /span> | Wind disperses the powdery brown teliospores of smut. |
| Allergen | Potential Opportunist or Pathogen | Potential Toxin Production |
| Type I allergies (hay fever, asthma). | No reports of human infection by the plant parasitic forms. | Not known. |
| Growth Indoors | Industrial Uses | Other Comments |
| Smuts do not usually grow indoors. They are parasitic plant pathogens that require a living host for the completion of their life cycle. | Not known. | Smuts are members of the Basidiomycetes and have two spore types: teliospores (dry, powdery stage) and basidiospores (yeast stage). |
| Characteristics: Growth/Culture | Notes on Spore Trap Recognition | Notes on Tape Lift Recognition |
| The airborne phase (teliospores) of smut requires a living host for growth and will not develop on laboratory media. The yeast phase (basidiospores) is saprophytic and will grow on general fungal media. | ||
