Smut (fungus)

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The smuts are fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes (of the class Teliomycetae, subphylum Basidiomycota), that cause plant disease.

Smuts affect grasses, notably including cereal crops such as maize. They initially attack the plant's reproductive system, forming galls which darken and burst, releasing fungal spores which infect other plants nearby.

A smut infestation is controlled by removing and destroying the infected plants.

[edit] Sugarcane smut

Sugarcane smut or culmicolous smut is caused by the fungus Ustilago scitaminea. The smut 'whip' is a curved black structure which emerges from the leaf whorl. Sugarcane smut causes significant losses to the economic value of a sugarcane crop. Sugarcane smut which has recently been found in the most productive sugar cane growing area in the world, the Australian eastern seaboard.