Basidia produce four spores at the end of microscopic spines called sterigma. When the spores are ready, they are discharged a short distance into the space between the gills or teeth, or into the center of the tube. The spores then fall out of the cap and are carried away in the wind. If the spore lands in a good spot, it germinates, producing the mycelium of a new fungus individual. The puffballs are relatives of mushrooms whose basidia and spores are enclosed in a sac instead of covering gills, or in tubes.
Coral fungi are also mushroom relatives.
They produce branched fruiting bodies that resemble coral or broccoli. Despite producing large mushroom-like fruiting bodies, morels and false morels are not closely related to mushrooms. These fungi are related to the cup fungi, in the class Ascomycetes. Their spores are produced inside a special cell called the ascus, instead of on the outside of basidia. The spores of morels and false morels are explosively discharged into the air as a fine white cloud.