Fungi of Australia Glossary
Compiled by C.A.Grgurinovic
This general glossary contains terms likely to be used frequently in the volumes of the Fungi of Australia and the majority of terms used in the introductory volumes. Specialised terms that are crucial to the understanding of individual family accounts, but not of wide application, will be explained and illustrated, where appropriate, in the relevant volumes.
It is the policy of the Editorial Committee to keep the use of technical terms within reasonable bounds so as to make it as easy as possible for the reader to consult the Fungi without constant reference to the glossary. Simple explanations have been preferred to long and involved ones; the meanings given are believed to be accurate but are certainly not claimed to be complete. Words explained adequately, for mycological purposes, in The Macquarie Dictionary or in any general biology text have usually not been included unless much more widely used in English in a different sense.
The glossary is also intended to guide the many future contributors to the Fungi in the use of terminology. For that reason alternative spellings that are commonly used in the taxonomic literature are often not given.
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This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from Australian Biological Resources Study. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed in the first instance to the Editor: Lower Plants and Fungi Project Area. These pages may not be displayed on, or downloaded to, any other server without the express permission of ABRS.
A
abaxial: of the side or surface of an organ, facing away from the axis. cf. adaxial, axial.
abstriction: separation along a septum, often involving constriction.
abrupt: appearing as if cut off transversely; truncate.
acerose: needle-like; shaped like a pine needle.
acervulus: a more or less saucer-shaped conidioma in which a hymenium of conidiogenous cells develops on the floor of the cavity beneath a covering of host tissue which ruptures at maturity (Hawksworth et al., 1983). pl. acervuli. adj. acervular.
acicular: needle-shaped and stiff.
acrogenous: of conidia, developing at the apex (Nag Raj, 1993). cf. pleurogenous.
acropetal: developing, in sequence, from the base towards the apex. cf. basipetal.
aculeate: prickly; with narrow spines.
acuminate: tapering gradually to a protracted point.
acute: terminating in a distinct but not protracted point, the converging edges separated by an angle less than 90 degrees.
adaxial: of the side or surface of an organ, facing towards the axis. cf. abaxial, axial.
adnate: fused to an organ of a different type.
adventitious septum: a septum formed in the absence of, or independently of, nuclear division, especially in association with the movement of cytoplasm from one part of the fungus to another; characteristic of lower fungi but found in all groups (Hawksworth et al., 1983); retraction septum; secondary septum. cf. primary septum.
aeciospore: in Uredinales, a unicellular, non-repeating vegetative spore, produced in an aecium, usually resulting from dikaryotisation, which germinates to give a dikaryotic mycelium (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
aecium: in Uredinales, a spore-producing structure of variable morphology, often cup-shaped and with chains of aeciospores; usually found associated with pycnia. pl. aecia. adj. aecial.
aethalium: in myxomycetes, a sessile, pulvinate fruit-body, often large (to several centimetres) and sometimes with an outer crust. pl. aethalia. adj. aethalioid. See also plasmodiocarp, sporangium.
agaric: common name for a fungus which produces gilled basidiomata, usually a member of the Agaricales.
agglutinate: fixed together as if with glue.
aleurioconidium: a terminal conidium, often thick-walled and pigmented, but sometimes thin-walled and hyaline, developed at the end of a conidiogenous cell or hypha, and from which it is not shed or shed only with difficulty; aleuriospore.
aleuriospore: see aleurioconidium.
algicolous: living on algae.
allantoid: slightly curved with rounded ends; sausage-shaped.
alternate host: either of the two dissimilar hosts of a heteroecious pathogen, typically a rust.
alveola: a small cavity or pit on a surface.
alveolate: pitted or honeycombed on the surface.
amerospore: a non-septate asexual spore with a length:breadth ratio not exceeding 15:1; if elongated, with only a single axis, and that axis not curved through more than 180 degrees; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
amphigynous: of Oomycota, having an antheridium through which the oogonial initial grows. cf. epigynous, hypogynous, paragynous.
ampulliform: flask-shaped.
amygdaliform: almond-shaped.
amyloid: staining grey-blue to blue-black in iodine-containing solutions such as Melzer's reagent. cf. dextrinoid, inamyloid.
anamorph: the asexual morph of a fungus; imperfect state. cf. holomorph, teleomorph. See also synanamorph.
anamorphosis: the complete asexual, mitotic, diasporic expression of a fungus, comprising one or more anamorphs. cf. teleomorph.
anastomosis: in fungi, the fusion between branches of the same or different hyphae, or other structures, often forming a network.
androgynous: having the antheridium and oogonium on the same hypha. cf. diclinous, monoclinous.
angiocarpous: of a fruit-body, closed at least until the spores are mature. cf. cleistocarp, endocarpous, gymnocarpous.
anisogamete: a motile gamete dissimilar in form or physiology to the gamete with which it fuses. cf. isogamete.
annellide (= annellophore): a conidiogenous cell in annellidic conidiogenesis which, by repeated percurrent proliferations, develops an elongated tip marked by transverse bands (annellations) (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
annellidic: of conidiogenesis, holoblastic conidiogenesis from an annellide, resulting in a basipetal sequence of conidia (annelloconidia).
annulus: (1) a ring; (2) in agarics and gasteromycetes, the ring-like remains of the partial veil around the stipe after the expansion of the pileus.
antheridium: the male sex organ. pl. antheridia.
anthracnose: common name of plant diseases characterised by necrotic black lesions (often sunken), caused by certain imperfect fungi that produce conidia in acervuli, e.g. Colletotrichum.
anticlinal: perpendicular to the surface. cf. periclinal.
aphanoplasmodium: a fine plasmodial network of hypha-like strands, with finely granular protoplasm and an indefinite margin; known in a few Myxomycetes, especially Stemonitaceae (Martin & Alexopoulos, 1969). See also phaneroplasmodium, protoplasmodium.
apical apparatus: in an ascus, one or more areas or structures in the apex which function in the discharge of ascospores.
apiculus: (1) a short projection at one end of an object; (2) in basidiospores, hilar appendix. adj. apiculate.
aplerotic: of an oospore, not filling the oogonium. cf. plerotic.
apophysis: a swelling or swollen filament, e.g. at the end of a sporangiophore below the sporangium in Mucorales; in basidiomycetes, the swelling at the tip of a sterigma from which the basidiospore develops and which becomes the hilar appendix (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
apothecium: a type of ascoma in which the disc-like hymenium is exposed at maturity. pl. apothecia.
appendage: a process or outgrowth of any sort; in conidia, cellular (tubular) or extracellular (mucilaginous), filiform to capitate or infundibuliform ornamentation (Nag Raj, 1993).
appendiculate: of a basidioma, where the pileal margin is fringed with pieces of the partial veil.
applanate: flattened.
appressed: pressed closely against but not united with.
appressorium: an infection structure; a swelling on a germ tube or hypha, especially for attachment to a host before penetration. pl. appressoria. cf. hyphopodium.
arachnoid: cobweb-like.
arenicolous: living or growing in sand.
areolate: divided into small areas by cracks.
arthric: of conidiogenesis, thallic conidiogenesis by which a hyphal element is fragmented into conidia after transverse septation (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
arthroconidium: a thalloconidium produced by the conversion of a pre-existing, determinate hyphal element into a conidium.
arthrospore: = arthroconidium.
ascending: of conidiophores, curving up (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
ascigerous: bearing asci.
ascocarp: = ascoma.
ascogenous: ascus-producing or supporting, usually restricted to hyphae (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
ascogonium: in Ascomycota, the female reproductive structure that receives nuclei from the antheridium. pl. ascogonia.
ascohymenial: referring to the Ascohymeniales (Nannfeldt, 1932); of an ascoma containing asci in a hymenium, and with the ascoma wall derived from the ascogenous hyphae. cf. ascolocular.
ascolocular: referring to the Ascoloculares (Nannfeldt, 1932); of an ascoma containing asci which develop in locules in a stroma, with the ascoma wall derived entirely from vegetative hyphae. cf. ascohymenial.
ascoma: an ascus-producing structure; a fruit-body containing asci. pl. ascomata.
ascomycete: common name for a member of the Ascomycota, the ascus being the diagnostic character.
ascospore: a meiospore produced in an ascus.
ascostroma: a stroma containing ascogenous locules.
ascus: the sac-like cell of the sexual state of a member of the Ascomycota in which the ascospores are produced. pl. asci.
aseptate: having no cross walls. See also coenocytic.
asexual: not forming part of a cycle which involves fertilisation and meiosis.
asperate: rough with points or projections.
asperulate: delicately asperate.
asporogenous: not forming spores; of yeasts, those without a known teleomorph. cf. sporogenous.
asterinaceous fungus: referring to fungi of the family Asterinaceae, order Hemisphaeriales, which are plant parasites with shield-shaped ascomata associated with a superficial hyphopodiate mycelium.
atomate: with a finely powdered surface.
attenuate: (1) gradually narrowed towards the end; (2) of a pathogen, having lowered virulence.
autoecious: of a fungus, typically a rust, completing its life cycle on one host. cf. heteroecious.
axenic: of a culture, pure, consisting of one organism.
axial: being or situated in line with an axis (Nag Raj, 1993).
axoneme: the main core of a flagellum consisting of two central microtubules surrounded by nine double microtubules (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
azygospore: a parthenogenic zygospore.
B
bacilliform: rod-like in shape; of spore shape, a cylinder with length:breadth ratio greater than 3. cf. cylindrical.
balansioid: with characteristics similar to those of species of Balansia (Ascomycota, Clavicipitales).
ballistoconidium: a forcibly discharged conidium.
ballistospore: a forcibly discharged basidiospore. cf. statismospore.
barbate: bearded.
barrage: the space between two mycelia which have an aversion for one another (Hawksworth et al., 1983); aversion zone.
basidiocarp: = basidioma.
basidiole: a basidium-like hymenial element, lacking sterigmata because it is either immature or sterile.
basidioma: a basidium-producing structure; a fruit-body containing basidia. pl. basidiomata.
basidiomycete: common name for a member of the Basidiomycota, the basidium being the diagnostic character.
basidiospore: a propagative cell produced on a basidium after meiosis.
basidium: the cell or organ, diagnostic for the Basidiomycota, in which karyogamy and meiosis occurs, giving rise to basidiospores borne singly either on short extensions (sterigmata) or sessile on the basidial cell. pl. basidia. See also ustidium.
basipetal: developing, in sequence, from the apex towards the base. cf. acropetal.
biconic: conical at each end (Nag Raj, 1993)
bifurcate: divided into two branches of equal or unequal length.
binding hyphae: thick-walled, much-branched, aseptate, interwoven, narrow, often coralloid hyphae which bind skeletal and generative hyphae together in a dimitic or trimitic hyphal system; ligative hyphae. cf. generative hyphae, skeletal hyphae.
biotroph: an organism entirely dependent upon another living organism as a source of nutrients; an obligate parasite.
bipolar: of a cell or spore, at the two ends.
biseriate: of spores in an ascus, in more or less two rows. cf. uniseriate.
bitunicate: of an ascus, having two distinct walls, an outer wall (ectotunica) and an inner wall (endotunica). cf. prototunicate, unitunicate. See also fissitunicate.
blastic: of conidiogenesis, one of the two basic types of conidiogenesis, characterised by a marked enlargement of a recognisable conidial initial before the initial is delimited by a septum. The conidium differentiates from part of a cell (Hawksworth et al., 1983). Types include enteroblastic and holoblastic conidia. cf. thallic.
blastoconidium: a conidium formed by blastic conidiogenesis. cf. thalloconidium.
blastomycete: common name for a member of the Blastoanamorphoses, a heterogeneous group of anamorphic yeasts some of which have ascomycetous or basidiomycetous affinities. adj. blastomycetous.
blastomycetous: of a yeast, budding; see blastomycete.
blastospore: = blastoconidium.
blepharoplast: in a zoospore, the basal body or granule (kinetosome) from which arise the longitudinal fibres constituting the axoneme (main core) of a flagellum; joined to the nucleus by a rhizoplast (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
blight: describes the destructive damage to plants, often occurring over a relatively short period, caused by parasitic (e.g. fungi, bacteria, insects, etc.) and non-parasitic (e.g. frost) agents. See also head blight.
bolete: common name for a member of the Boletales.
boletinoid: of a hymenophore, with a structure intermediate between lamellae and pores.
bothrosome: see sagenogen.
botuliform: see allantoid.
broom cells: in agarics, cells on the pileus or edges of the lamellae which bear apical appendages giving a broom-like appearance.
budding: multiplication in yeasts or in spores where a new cell develops from a small outgrowth. cf. fission.
bulbil: a small sclerotium-like structure consisting of a small number of cells, homogeneous throughout and pseudoparenchymatous at maturity (Weresub & Le Clair, 1971). cf. papulospore, sclerotium, stroma.
bulbous: of a stipe, swollen at the base.
bunt: a disease caused by a member of the order Tilletiales, especially species of Tilletia.
C
caespitose: growing in tufts.
calcarate: with a spur-like process, a calcar.
callose: hard or thick.
callus: in vascular plants, the parenchymatous tissue of cambial origin that forms in response to wounding or infections by pathogens.
calyptrate: capped or hooded; of a basidiospore, where the perisporium forms a loosely attached layer that envelopes the spore like a loose bag.
campanulate: bell-shaped.
canaliculate: with a longitudinal groove or channel. cf. sulcate.
cancellate: anastomosing and forming a network; reticulate; latticed.
canker: a sunken, necrotic lesion of woody root, stem or branch arising from the disintegration of tissues outside the xylem cylinder, but sometimes limited in extent by host reactions which can result in more or less massive overgrowth of surrounding tissues (Holliday, 1989).
capillaceous, capilliform: hair-like.
capillitium: in gasteromycetes, a mass of sterile thick-walled, brown, infrequently septate hyphae among the spores; in Myxomycota, the thread-like structures in the fruit-bodies, ranging from few to a dense network and, in order Physarales, containing lime. See also paracapillitium, pseudocapillitium.
capitate: having a well-formed head, usually more or less globose.
capitellum: a small head.
capnodiaceous fungus: a member of the Capnodiales (Ascomycota); a sooty mould.
carbonaceous: dark coloured and readily broken, brittle.
cartilaginous: firm and tough, but readily bent.
catenate: in chains, e.g. of a row or chain of cells or spores.
catenulate: in short chains of two or three (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
centripetal: directed, or developing from the outside towards the centre or axis.
centrum: the structures within an ascoma, i.e. the asci and hamathecium (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
ceraceous: wax-like.
cerebriform: brain-like in shape; convoluted.
chaetothyriaceous fungus: a member of the Chaetothyriaceae (Ascomycota, order uncertain); a sooty mould.
channel: in a phialide, zone at the phialide apex in which the area occupied by the protoplast is usually of considerably reduced diameter and surrounded by periclinal thickening; the conidial primordium emerges through the channel to produce a new conidium (Nag Raj, 1993).
chiastobasidium: a holobasidium that is clavate with nuclear spindles transverse across the basidium and located near the top of the basidium (Donk, 1964). See also holobasidium, stichobasidium.
chlamydospore: an asexual spore, primarily for surviving adverse conditions, originating by modification of (a) hyphal segment(s) and possessing an inner wall usually impregnated with hydrophobic material. adj. chlamydosporic. See also thalloconidium, ustilospore.
chytrid: a member of the Chytridiomycota.
cilium: a hair-like organelle of motility that protrudes from the cell and consists of an axoneme covered by the cell membrane. pl. cilia.
circumscissile: opening along a circular or equatorial line.
clamp connection: in Basidiomycota, a hyphal outgrowth which, at cell division, makes a connection between the resulting two cells by fusing with the lower and acting as a passage for nuclear transfer.
clathrate, clathroid: latticed.
clavate: club-shaped.
cleistocarp (= cleistothecium): in Ascomycota, a type of ascoma with no opening. cf. angiocarpous.
clypeus: a shield-like stromatic growth, with or without host tissue, over one or more perithecia or pycnidial conidiomata (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
coacervate: massed or heaped together.
coadnate: united, cohering.
coalescent: joined together.
coarctate: crushed together, crowded.
cochleate: shaped like a shell, spiralled.
coelomycete: common name for a member of the Coeloanamorphoses, fungi with acervular, pycnidial, pycnothyrial or stromatic condiomata (Sutton, 1980). adj. coelomycetous.
coenocytic: without septa and multinucleate. See also aseptate.
coevolution: the interdependent evolution of two or more species having an obvious ecological relationship (Lincoln et al., 1982).
collabent: collapsed in the middle (Nag Raj, 1993).
collarette: a frill or collar (often cup-shaped) of outer wall material remaining at the apex of a phialidic conidiogenous cell, following dehiscence of the first conidium.
collariate: with a collar.
columella: a sterile central axis within a mature fruit-body which may be uni- or multicellular, unbranched or branched, of fungal or host origin (Hawksworth et al., 1983); in gasteromycetes, sterile tissue usually at the base of the gleba, extending up into or through the gleba.
coma: a tuft of hairs. adj. comose.
commensal: one of two partners living in permanent close association, which gains a slight benefit from the association without causing serious disadvantage to the other.
compatible: of mating types, strains, etc., cross-fertile, able to be crossed. cf. incompatible.
complanate: flat.
complicate: folded upon itself.
compressed: flattened in one plane either dorsally or laterally.
concatenate: linked together as in a chain.
conceptacle: a hollow structure producing spores or spermatia.
conchate: shaped like a bivalve shell.
concolorous: having the same colour. cf. versicoloured.
concrescent: coalescent; becoming joined.
confluent: running into one another.
conglobate: formed into a ball; of the bases of stipes, together making a fleshy mass.
conidiogenesis: the process of conidium formation.
conidiogenous: producing conidia.
conidiole: a small conidium, especially one on another; a secondary conidium (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
conidioma: a specialised, multihyphal, conidium-producing structure (Hawksworth et al., 1983); includes acervulus, pycnidium, pycnothyrium, sporodochium, synnema. pl. conidiomata. See also conidiophore.
conidiophore: a simple or branched, fertile hypha bearing conidiogenous cells from which conidia are produced (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also conidioma.
conidiosporangium: a conidium-like or deciduous zoosporangium of certain of the Peronosporales; it contains only one spore and hence resembles a unicellular conidium.
conidium: a non-motile, usually deciduous, asexual spore which is not formed by cytoplasmic cleavage or free cell formation. pl. conidia. cf. sporangiospore. See also amerospore, dictyospore, didymospore, helicospore, phragmospore, scolecospore, staurospore for definitions of morphological types of conidia. See also blastoconidium and thalloconidium for definitions of developmental types of conidia.
conjugate: (1) joined in twos; (2) copulation, especially isogamic copulation.
connate: joined by growth.
connivent: coming into contact, but not organically joined.
context: see trama.
contiguous: touching.
continuous: of spores, hyphae, etc., without septa; of a stipe, one with the tissue of the pileus or peridium (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
coprophilous: growing on dung.
coralloid: having the form of branching coral, especially basidiomata of Ramaria.
coremium: = synnema.
coriaceous: leathery.
corneous: consisting of a horn-like substance.
cornute: bearing horns; horn-like in form. adj. corniform.
coronate: crowned.
cortex: an outer covering; peridium.
corticolous: living or growing on bark.
cortina: in agarics, a cobweb-like partial veil as found in Cortinarius.
costate: bearing ribs.
crenate: having the margin scalloped so as to form rounded teeth.
crenulate: minutely crenate.
cristate: crested.
crozier: the hook of an ascogenous hypha before the development of the ascus; ascus crook.
cruciate: in the form of a cross; of basidial septa, with a vertical septum and one at right angles to it.
cryptogam: a plant that produces spores, not seeds, in its sexual reproductive cycle, e.g. ferns, mosses, algae.
culture: an in vitro growth of a microorganism or a group of organisms for experimental or commercial purposes.
cumulate: heaped up.
cuneate: wedge-shaped.
cup fungus: a discomycete, e.g. members of the Pezizales and Leotiales.
cupulate: cup-shaped.
cyanescent: becoming blue.
cyathiform: like a cup, slightly wider at the top than at the bottom, and sometimes stalked.
cylindrical: having the form of a cylinder; of spore shape, with a length:breadth ratio of 2-3 (Bas, 1969). cf. bacilliform.
cymbiform: broadly reniform.
cyst: a sac, especially a resting spore- or sporangium-like structure (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
cystidiole: in hymenomycetes, a simple hymenial cell of about the same diameter as a basidium, but remaining sterile and extending beyond the hymenial surface.
cystidium: a sterile cell, usually with a distinctive shape, occurring on any surface of a basidioma.
cystosorus: an aggregation of united cysts or resting spores, the presence and morphology of which are of taxonomic significance, e.g. in the Plasmodiophorales. pl. cystosori.
cytospore: a type of spore released from an encysted amoeba phase in the Amoebidiales (Trichomycetes).
D
deciduous: of spores, etc., falling away at maturity.
decorticate: the cortex having been eroded, removed, etc.
decumbent: resting on the substratum but with the ends turned upwards.
decurrent: extending downwards beyond the point of insertion, e.g. of lamellae extending down the stipe.
decurved: bent downwards.
dehiscent: of an ascus or fruit-body, opening when mature, by a pore or by rupturing or fragmentation; of conidia and other spores, falling off.
deliquescent: liquefying on maturity.
deltoid: triangular in shape.
dematiaceous: of spores, mycelium, etc., more or less darkly pigmented.
demicyclic: of rust life cycle, producing pycnia, aecia and telia but lacking uredinia. cf. macrocyclic, microcyclic.
dendroid: tree-like, arborescent, branching like a tree.
dentate: toothed.
denticle: a tooth-like projection.
denticulate: finely toothed.
depressed: with the centre lower than the margin.
determinate: well-defined; definite; of a conidiophore, growth ceasing when terminal conidia are produced. cf. indeterminate.
detersile: of a villose surface, removable so that the surface becomes bare.
deuteromycete: former common name for a member of the Fungi Anamorphici.
dextrinoid: staining yellowish or reddish brown in iodine-containing solutions such as Melzer's reagent; pseudoamyloid. cf. amyloid, inamyloid.
diaphragm: in gasteromycetes, a homogeneous wall of hyphae that separates the gleba from the sterile base, e.g. in some species of Calvatia.
diaspore: any disseminated propagule, either sexual or asexual.
dichotomous: forking into two more or less equal arms.
diclinous: having the antheridium and oogonium on different hyphae. cf. androgynous, monoclinous, paragynous.
dictyospore: an asexual spore with intersecting septa in more than one plane; with a length:breadth ratio not exceeding 15:1; if elongated, with only a single axis, and that axis not curved through more than 180 degrees; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979); a muriform spore. See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
didymospore: an asexual spore with one septum across the body; with a length:breadth ratio not exceeding 15:1; if elongated, with only a single axis, and that axis not curved through more than 180 degrees; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
dieback: necrosis of a shoot starting at the apex and spreading towards the older tissue, death of the stem may occur; a disease caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands and a number of other species of Phytophthora.
digitate: shaped like the fingers of a hand; with finger-like divisions.
dikaryon: a cell having two genetically distinct haploid nuclei (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. heterokaryon, homokaryon, monokaryon.
dikaryotisation: where a homokaryon is converted into a dikaryon, typically by two compatible homokaryons fusing.
dimidiate: appearing to lack one half, or having one half very much smaller compared with the other half; of a pileus, without a stalk and semicircular; of a lamella, stretching only halfway to the stipe; of a perithecial wall, having the outer wall covering only the top part (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
dimitic: having two types of hyphae: generative and skeletal or generative and binding. cf. monomitic, trimitic.
dimorphic: having two different forms.
disc: in a pileus, the central area of the pileus; in discomycetes, the spore-producing part of the ascoma.
discocarp: = apothecium.
discomycete: common name for a member of the Ascomycota which produces apothecia; cup fungus.
disjunctor: a structure between conidia to promote their disarticulation (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
dispersal spore: a spore disseminated by wind, water or other agent; diaspore (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
dispore: in a basidiomycete, one of the spores from a two-spored basidium. cf. tetraspore.
dissepiment: a partition, for example, that between the pores of a bolete or polypore.
doliiform: barrel-shaped.
dolipore septum: a septum of a dikaryotic basidiomycete hypha which flares out in the middle portion forming a barrel-shaped structure with open ends; a septal pore cap, the parenthosome, is developed at each side of the pore.
E
echinate: bearing pointed spines.
echinulate: bearing small, pointed spines.
ecorticate: without a cortex.
ectal: outer, outermost (Hawksworth et al., 1983); used most often as ectal exciple.
ectendomycorrhiza: see mycorrhiza.
ectomycorrhiza: see mycorrhiza.
ectoplasm: the outermost, relatively rigid and transparent, granule-free layer of cytoplasm in many cells (e.g. in amoebae).
ectoplasmic net: an extracellular matrix; a branching and anastomosing, hyaline, membrane-bounded network of ectoplasmic filaments without cytoplasmic organelles which functions as an attachment and absorbing structure and is produced by specialised organelles, called sagenogens, on the cell surface of labyrinthulomycetes. In Labyrinthulales, the ectoplasmic net completely surrounds the cells and joins them in a common network through which the cells move by a gliding motion. In Thraustochytriales, the ectoplasmic net arises from one side of each cell and does not surround it (Margulis et al., 1990).
ectoplasmic reticulum: see ectoplasmic net.
ectosporium: the hardly visible spore wall layer external to the perisporium. See also endosporium, episporium, exosporium, perisporium.
ectotunica: the outer wall of a bitunicate ascus (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. endotunica.
effuse: spread out flat especially as a film-like growth.
eguttulate: of a spore, lacking guttules (oil-like globules). cf. guttulate.
elater: a free capillitium thread (Hawksworth et al., 1983); a capillitial element in the gleba of Battarraea and Battarraeoides that tapers at both ends and has spiral thickenings when mature.
ellipsoidal: oval in outline and three-dimensional.
emarginate: of a lamella, see sinuate; attached by only a portion of its width and the resulting shape is as if a small triangular piece had been removed from that portion of the lamella where it meets the stipe; notched.
endobiotic: growing inside a living organism.
endocarpous: of Basidiomycota, with the mature hymenium covered; angiocarpous (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. angiocarpous, gymnocarpous.
endogenous: undergoing development within; living inside. cf. exogenous.
endomycorrhiza: see mycorrhiza.
endoperidium: the inner layer of a multilayered peridium. cf. exoperidium, mesoperidium.
endophyte: an organism which completes its life cycle in a plant which shows no external sign of the infection; one of a group of fungi which are parasitic on grasses and are toxic to grazing animals (Holliday, 1989).
endosporium: the innermost layer of the spore wall which is usually thin and is the last to develop during sporogenesis (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also ectosporium, episporium, exosporium, perisporium.
endotunica: the often extensible inner wall of a bitunicate ascus. cf. ectotunica.
enteroblastic: of conidiogenesis, mode of blastic production of cell walls in which, following completion of any developmental stage, the fungus in a new stage does not lay down a wall layer or layers continuous with the outer wall layer(s) of the previous stage (Minter et al., 1982). cf. holoblastic.
enterothallic: of conidiogenesis, thallic conidiogenesis with only the inner wall of the conidiogenous cell contributing to the formation of the conidium wall (Sutton, 1980). cf. holothallic.
entire: having a smooth margin, not dissected or toothed.
entomogenous: living in or on insects, especially as pathogens.
entomophilous: having insects involved with dispersal of spores.
epidemic: a widespread increase, usually limited in time, in the incidence of an infectious disease (Holliday, 1989).
epigeous: growing on or developing on the surface of the soil. cf. hypogeous.
epigynous: of Oomycota, having the antheridium above the oogonium and on the same hypha. cf. amphigynous, hypogynous, paragynous.
epihypothallic: mode of fruit-body development in Myxomycetes subclass Stemonitomycetidae where the hypothallus forms under the plasmodium during fruit-body formation and sporangial stalks are hollow or fibrous (Martin & Alexopoulos, 1969). See also subhypothallic.
epiphyllous: on the upper surface of a leaf. cf. hypophyllous.
episporium: the spore wall layer external to the endosporium; the thick fundamental layer which determines the size and form of the spore (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. ectosporium, endosporium, exosporium, perisporium.
epithecium: in the hymenium of an apothecium, the tissue at the surface formed by the branching of the ends of the paraphyses above the asci (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
epitunica: = exosporium.
epizoic: living on animals.
epruinose: without pruina.
equal: of a stipe, having equal diameter from the apex to the base.
ergot: the diseases of cereals, grasses and sedges, caused by species of Claviceps; e.g. ergot of cereals and grasses caused by Claviceps purpurea (Fr.) Tul.; also the term referring to the sclerotium of these fungi formed in infected plants (e.g. the ergot of C. purpurea).
erose: of a margin, irregularly incised.
erumpent: bursting through the surface.
eucarpic: using only part of the thallus for the fruit-body. cf. holocarpic.
evanescent: present for a short time; breaking down.
evelate: without a veil.
excentric (= eccentric): off-centre, to one side, any attachment intermediate between central and lateral.
exciple (= excipulum): in an ascoma, tissue or tissues enclosing the hymenium and subhymenium.
exobasidial: (1) having the basidia uncovered; (2) separated by a wall from the basidium (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
exogenous: developing outside. cf. endogenous.
exoperidium: outer layer of a multilayered peridium. cf. endoperidium, mesoperidium.
exosporium: the spore wall layer external to the episporium and derived from it, but chemically distinct and frequently responsible for the ornamentation (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also ectosporium, endosporium, episporium, perisporium.
F
facultative: of a parasite, able to live as a saprotroph or a parasite.
falcate: scythe- or sickle-shaped.
farinaceous: mealy, resembling flour in form or smell.
fascicle: a cluster or bundle. adj. fasciculate.
faveolate: of a surface, honeycombed; alveolate.
fenestrate: having openings or translucent areas.
fibrillose: covered with silk-like fibres.
fibrous: of a stipe, usually rather thick and leaving a ragged edge when broken in two.
filiform: filamentous; thread-like.
filose: = filiform; of pseudopodia, pseudopodia with thin filamentous processes, characteristic of the Dictyosteliomycetes.
fimbriate: of a margin or apex, fringed with long, slender, hair-like processes (fimbriae) or hyphae.
fission: becoming two by division of the complete organism (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. budding.
fissitunicate: of an ascus, the method of opening of some bitunicate asci by rupture of the apex of the outer wall and rapid extension of the inner wall which discharges the ascospores through the apex.
fistulose (= fistular): hollow throughout its length.
flabelliform: fan-shaped.
flagellum: a whip-like appendage which is the organ of locomotion of a motile cell; in fungi two types can be distinguished: whiplash, with a smooth continuous surface, and tinsel, with the surface covered with mastigonemes (hair-like processes) (Hawksworth et al., 1983); undulipodium. pl. flagella.
flesh: in the pileus or stipe, the inner tissue, generally used at the macroscopic level; trama; context.
flimmer: see mastigoneme.
floccose: with cottony fibrils.
flocculose: with delicate cottony fibrils.
fornicate: arched; in Geastrum, having the fibrous and fleshy layers of the peridium becoming arched over the cup-like mycelial layer.
foveate: pitted.
foveolate: delicately pitted.
free cell formation: in an ascus, the process by which the eight nuclei, each with some adjacent cytoplasm, are cut off by walls in the immature ascus to form ascospores (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
fruit-body: a general term for the multicellular spore-bearing structures in both macrofungi and microfungi; alternative terms are carpophore, sporocarp and sporophore; hymenophore has a more restricted meaning.
fungistasis: a state where fungal growth is inhibited but death of the fungus does not occur.
funiculus: (1) a fine rope of hyphae (Pitt & Hocking, 1985); (2) the cord attaching the peridiole to the inner wall of a basidioma in some Nidulariales. adj. funicular.
furcate: forked.
furfuraceous: powdered with bran-like particles; scurfy.
fusiform: spindle-shaped; narrowing towards both ends.
fusoid: somewhat fusiform.
G
gall: a swelling or outgrowth produced by a plant as a result of attack by a fungus, insect, nematode, etc.
gametangium: a gamete mother cell; a sex organ. pl. gametangia.
gasteroid: (1) of basidiomycetes, having angiocarpic development; (2) used by Oberwinkler & Bandoni (1982) for basidia from which basidiospores are not forcibly discharged (statismospores).
gasteromycete: common name for a member of the polyphyletic group of basidiomycota with angiocarpic development.
geniculate: bent abruptly like a knee joint.
generative hyphae: hyphae that are thin-walled, branched, septate and with or without clamp connections. cf. binding hyphae, skeletal hyphae.
germ pore: a thinner and paler area or pore in the spore wall through which germination may occur; more than one germ pore may be present. cf. germ slit.
germ slit: a thin, often paler, line running along or across a spore and through which germination may occur. cf. germ pore.
germ tube: a germination hypha which emerges from a spore.
gill: in agarics, a lamella.
glabrous: without hairs.
gleba: the spore-bearing tissue in an angiocarpous fruit-body, especially gasteromycetes.
glebal chambers: the cavities within the gleba, usually lined with hymenial elements; empty or gel-filled, e.g. in Melanogaster (Miller & Miller, 1988).
globose: globe-shaped; spherical or nearly so.
gloeocystidium: a thin-walled, usually irregular cystidium with hyaline or yellowish and highly refractile contents (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
gonoplasm: in Oomycota, the protoplasm in the middle of an antheridium which undergoes fusion with an oosphere. cf. ooplasm, periplasm.
granular: (1) of a surface, coarsely powdery; (2) of a cell, containing numerous oily droplets (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
gregarious: growing in groups, but not joined together.
guttulate: of a spore, containing one or more oil-like globules. cf. eguttulate.
gymnocarpous: of Basidiomycota, where the hymenium of the developing fruit-body is exposed from initiation to maturity (Vellinga, 1988). cf. angiocarpous, endocarpous.
H
habit: the manner of growth.
halonate: of a spore, having a transparent coat; of a leaf spot, having concentric rings.
halophilic: capable of living in a salt-rich environment such as sea water, saline soil, salt-preserved food, etc. and often preferring such an environment.
hamate: hooked.
hamathecium: a neutral term for all types of hyphae or other tissues between asci, or projecting into the locule or ostiole of an ascoma; subdivided into interascal pseudoparenchyma, paraphyses, paraphysoids, pseudoparaphyses, periphysoids and periphyses (Eriksson, 1981).
Hartig net: the intercellular, hyphal network within the root formed by an ectomycorrhizal fungus upon the surface of a root (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
haustorium: a specialised hyphal branch, especially one within a living cell of the host, for absorption of nutrients (Hawksworth et al., 1983). adj. haustorial.
head blight: the destructive damage to an inflorescence or seed head, e.g. head blight of wheat caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe.
heart rot: a decay of the heartwood, sometimes extended to a decay in the centre of a plant organ (Holliday, 1989).
helicoid: spiral; coiled like a helix.
helicospore: a septate or non-septate asexual spore; with a single axis curved through at least 180 degrees, but may describe one or more complete rotations, in two or three dimensions; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
heterobasidium: a basidium showing septation, usually a phragmobasidium.
heteroecious: of a fungus, typically a rust, requiring two unlike hosts, in different families, to complete its life cycle. cf. autoecious.
heterokaryon: a cell having two or more genetically different nuclei, sometimes as a result of anastomosis (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. dikaryon, homokaryon, monokaryon.
heterokont: of a flagellate cell with flagella of different lengths.
heterothallism: the type of sexual reproduction where conjugation is possible only through the interaction of different thalli (Hawksworth et al., 1983). adj. heterothallic. cf. homothallism.
heterotropic: of a basidiospore, attached obliquely to the sterigma and forcibly discharged. cf. orthotropic.
higher fungi: members of the Ascomycota, the Basidiomycota and the Fungi Anamorphici. cf. lower fungi.
hilar appendix: in basidiospores, the projection which connects the spore with the sterigma; apiculus.
hilum: in a basidiospore, the mark or scar on the apiculus or hilar appendix at the point of attachment to the sterigma; in a conidium, the scar on the spore left after detachment from the conidiogenous cell.
hirsute: bearing coarse, rough, longish hairs. cf. villous.
hoary: covered with a very short, closely interwoven hairs.
holobasidium: a basidium not divided by primary septa but which may contain in any of its parts one or more adventitious secondary septa associated with localised withdrawal of cytoplasm. See also chiastobasidium, stichobasidium. cf. phragmobasidium.
holoblastic: of conidiogenesis, mode of blastic production of cell walls in which, following completion of any developmental stage, the fungus in a new stage lays down wall layers which are continuous with all of the wall layers used in the previous stage (Minter et al., 1982). See also annellidic. cf. enteroblastic.
holocarpic: where the entire thallus functions as the fruit-body. cf. eucarpic.
holomorph: the whole fungus in all its morphs and phases (Hennebert & Weresub, 1977). cf. anamorph, teleomorph.
holothallic: of conidiogenesis, thallic conidiogenesis with both outer and inner walls of the conidiogenous cell contributing to the formation of the conidium wall (Sutton, 1980). cf. enterothallic.
homokaryon: a cell or mycelium with genetically identical nuclei. cf. dikaryon, heterokaryon, monokaryon
homothallism: the type of sexual reproduction where conjugation can occur without the interaction of two differing thalli. adj. homothallic. cf. heterothallism.
humicolous: living in or on soil.
hyaline: transparent to translucent and colourless or almost so.
hydnoid: of a hymenium, borne on the surface of teeth, as in Hydnum (Aphyllophorales, Basidiomycota).
hygrophanous: having a water-soaked appearance when wet, and noticeably changing colour on drying.
hygroscopic: tending to absorb moisture; of a fruit-body, opening and discharging spores in dry air.
hymenium: the spore-bearing layer of the fruit-body, bearing asci in ascomata, basidia in basidiomata, and conidia in pycnidia or acervuli. pl. hymenia. adj. hymenial.
hymenomycete: common name for a member of the Euholobasidiomycetes where the hymenium is exposed at maturity and basidiospores are ballistosporic; also commonly used for a member of the Basidiomycota.
hymenophore: a spore-bearing structure (a fruit-body), especially a basidioma, or that portion of it bearing the hymenium.
hymenopodium: see hypothecium, subhymenium.
hyper-: prefix, beyond, over, above; usually implying excess or exaggeration.
hyperparasite: a parasite upon another parasite (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also mycoparasite.
hyperplasia: an abnormal increase in tissue growth caused by excessive cell division (e.g. as in club root of Brassicaceae caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae Woronin). cf. hypertrophy.
hypersaprotroph: a saprotroph found only on substrata previously invaded by other saprotrophs (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
hypertrophy: the excessive enlargement or development of an organ or tissue, with increase in cell size but without increased cell division. cf. hyperplasia.
hypha: a fungal filament. pl. hyphae.
hyphal peg: a projection of a hypha for fusion; in a basidioma, a cluster of somewhat interwoven hyphae extending from the trama, where it originates, to the hymenium, from which it may project (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
hyphidium: a little- or strongly-modified terminal hypha in the hymenium of hymenomycetes. (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. paraphysoid, pseudoparaphysis.
hyphomycete: common name for a member of the Hyphoanamorphoses, fungi producing conidia on exposed conidiophores. adj. hyphomycetous.
hyphopodium: a short branch of one or two cells on epiphytic mycelia of Meliolales, Erysiphales, etc. from which a fine infection hypha (infection peg) penetrates the host; a mycelial appressorium. cf. appressorium.
hypo-: prefix, below, under, beneath, lower; used either in place or degree.
hypogeous: subterranean. cf. epigeous.
hypogynous: of Oomycota, having the antheridium below the oogonium and on the same hypha. cf. amphigynous, epigynous, paragynous.
hypothecium: medullary exciple; the hyphal layer below the subhymenium in an apothecium.
hypophyllous: on the under surface of a leaf. cf. epiphyllous.
hysterothecioid: long, thin and cleft like a hysterothecium (ascoma in the Hysteriaceae); lirelliform.
I
imbricate: partly overlapping like tiles on a roof.
immarginate: without a well-defined edge.
immersed: embedded in the substratum.
imperfect state: the state characterised by the production of asexual spores (conidia) or by the absence of spores (Hawksworth et al., 1983); the anamorph. cf. perfect state.
inamyloid: not reacting in iodine-containing solutions such as Melzer's Reagent and therefore appearing yellow or hyaline. cf. amyloid, dextrinoid.
incompatible: of mating types, strains, etc., not cross-fertile. cf. compatible.
indeterminate: not well-defined or definite; of conidiophores, continuing growth indefinitely. cf. determinate.
indurated: hardened.
indusium: a cover; in Phallales, a veil which hangs from the base of the receptacle.
infundibuliform: funnel-shaped.
innate: being an integral part of the tissue; not readily removable from the adjacent tissue.
inoperculate: without a cap or lid; of an ascus or a sporangium, opening by an irregular apical split to discharge the ascospores or sporangiospores. cf. operculate.
intercalary: of growth, between the apex and the base; of cells, spores, etc., between two cells (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
intraparietal: of position of pigment, on the inner portion of the wall, usually in the form of spirals, rings or irregular clumps.
involute: with the edge rolled downwards or inwards. cf. revolute.
isogamete: one of two sex cells (gametes) that are alike in form. cf. anisogamete.
isthmoid: with a constriction.
K
karyogamy: the fusion of two sexually compatible haploid nuclei after cell fusion, i.e. after plasmogamy.
kinetosome: see blepharoplast.
L
labiate: having lips; lobed.
laccate: polished, varnished, shiny (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
lacerate: appearing as if roughly cut or torn.
laciniate: of a margin, appearing as if cut into bands.
lacrymoid: tear-drop shaped.
lactiferous hypha: a hypha that contains latex or is homologous to hyphae that contain latex (Singer, 1986). cf. oleiferous hypha.
lacuna: a gap or cavity.
lageniform: swollen at the base and narrow at the apex; gourd-shaped; flask-shaped.
lamella: in agarics, a vertical, radiating plate covered with hymenium, on the ventral side of a pileus. pl. lamellae.
lamellula: in agarics, a short gill that does not extend all the way from the pileal margin to the stipe. pl. lamellulae.
lanceolate: shaped like the head of a lance, narrow and tapering towards the apex, or, sometimes, each end.
lateral: at the side; of stipe attachment, at the side of the basidioma.
latex: a hyaline or coloured juice exuding from an injured or cut portion of a fruit-body.
lenticular: shaped like a biconvex lens.
lesion: a localised area of diseased or disordered tissue.
lignicolous: growing on or in wood.
ligulate: strap-like in shape.
limbate: edged with another colour; of a volva, adnate to the base of the stipe and having a narrow, free, membranous margin (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
lime: granular deposits of calcium carbonate found in the capillitium, peridium and stalk of some Myxomycetes, sometimes as large, irregular masses (lime knots).
limoniform: lemon-shaped.
linear: very narrow in relation to the length, and with the sides parallel.
lirelliform: see hysterothecioid.
lobulate: with small lobes.
locule: a cavity or chamber. adj. loculate.
lower fungi: members of the Myxomycota, Oomycota, Hyphochytriomycota, Chytridiomycota and Zygomycota. cf. higher fungi.
lubricous: slippery, of an oily smoothness.
lumen: the central cavity of a cell.
lunate: crescent moon-shaped.
M
macroconidium: the larger, and generally diagnostic conidium of a fungus which also has microconidia (Nag Raj, 1993).
macrocyclic: of rust life cycle, producing all five spore states; producing pycnia, aecia, uredinia and telia. cf. demicyclic, microcyclic.
macrocyst: in Myxomycota, an encysted aggregate of myamoebae; the resting form of a young plasmodium; the alternative to the sorocarp in some cellular slime moulds (Dictyosteliomycetes) (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. microcyst.
mammillate: breast-shaped; apex conical with a papillate tip.
marginal veil: in agarics, an incurving proliferation of the pileal margin which protects the developing hymenium. cf. partial veil.
marginate: (1) with a well-defined edge; (2) of a lamella or stipe base, where the lamella-edge is differently coloured to the face; where a bulbous stipe base is well-marked by a distinct rim.
mastigoneme: in a tinsel flagellum, flimmer; tinsel; a fine hair-like projection that extends laterally from undulipodia (Margulis et al., 1990).
mastigote: of motile cells, with one or more flagella; mastigote stage: a stage in the life cycle which has flagella.
mazaedium: a dry, powdery mass of mature ascospores, sometimes mixed with sterile threads, formed on ascomata in some Caliciales and Onygenales (Ascomycota).
meiosporangium: a thick-walled diploid sporangium of certain Blastocladiales producing uninucleate, haploid zoospores (meiospores) (Hawksworth et al., 1983); more recently, used much more widely for any sporangium (e.g. ascus, basidium) in which meiosis results in spore production. cf. mitosporangium.
meiospore: a spore produced as a result of meiosis. cf. mitospore.
membranous: parchment-like or membrane-like. cf. papyraceous.
merosporangium: in Zygomycota, a cylindrical sporangium from the swollen end of a sporangiophore in which a single row of sporangiospores is produced; occasionally with only one sporangiospore. cf. sporangiole.
mesoperidium: the middle layer of a multilayered peridium. cf. endoperidium, exoperidium.
metabasidium: the developmental stage of the basidium in which meiosis (or nuclear division) occurs. If a probasidial remnant is left, it may be separated from the metabasidium by a septum.
metachromatic: a reaction where certain spore walls and hyphae turn reddish to violet when placed in cresyl blue.
metula: a branch of a conidiophore bearing phialides.
micaceous: covered with glistening particles.
microconidium: the smaller conidium of a fungus that also produces macroconidia; a spermatium (Nag Raj, 1993).
microcyclic: of rust life cycle, producing only telia and sometimes pycnia; not producing all five spore states. cf. demicyclic, macrocyclic.
microcyst: in Myxomycota, an encysted myxamoeba or swarm spore (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. macrocyst.
mildew: (1) a plant disease where the pathogen occurs as a growth on the host's surface; (2) used to describe the discoloration and braking up of cloth, fibres, etc. caused by fungi; (3) a fungus causing (1) or (2).
mitosporangium: a thin-walled diploid sporangium of certain Blastocladiales producing uninucleate diploid zoospores (mitospores) (Hawksworth et al., 1983); more recently used more widely for sporangia containing spores produced by mitosis. cf. meiosporangium.
mitospore: a spore from a mitosporangium; in Basidiomycota, any non-basidiosporous propagule (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. meiospore.
moniliform: contracted at short, regular intervals like a string of beads.
monocentric: having derived from, or pertaining to, a single centre (Holmes, 1979); with one centre of growth and development. cf. polycentric.
monoclinous: with the antheridium on the oogonial stalk. cf. androgynous, diclinous, paragynous.
monokaryon: a haploid mycelium (or cell) which contains only one type of nucleus. cf. dikaryon, heterokaryon, homokaryon.
mononematous: with conidiophores borne singly. cf. synnematous.
monomitic: having hyphae of only one type (generative hyphae). cf. dimitic, trimitic.
morph: form.
mosaic: a disease symptom of leaves in which numerous small areas of discolouration stand out against a background of a different tint, tending to have a clearly defined boundary delineated by veins (Holliday, 1989).
mottle: a disease symptom of leaves in which small but numerous areas of discolouration, commonly chlorotic, irregularly shaped and without sharply defined boundaries, stand out against a background of a different tint; the pattern is not related to the vein network (Holliday, 1989).
mucronate: with a short, sharp point at the end.
muriform: patterned like a brick wall; of a spore, with intersecting septa in more than one plane. See also dictyospore.
muscicolous: growing on mosses or liverworts.
mycelium: the vegetative body of a fungus, consisting of hyphae.
mycelial cord: a discrete filamentous aggregation of hyphae which, in contrast to a rhizomorph, has no apical meristem (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. rhizomorph.
mycobiont: the fungal component of a symbiotic relationship, as in a lichen. cf. photobiont.
mycoparasite: a fungus parasitic on another fungus.
mycorrhiza: a mutualistic or weakly pathogenic association of a fungus and the roots of a plant. There are a number of types, some of which are: ectomycorrhiza, where the fungus is on the surface of the roots and forms a Hartig net; endomycorrhiza, where the fungus invades the cells of roots where it is frequently confined to well-defined layers; ectendomycorrhiza, where there is a Hartig net but the fungus also penetrates the root cells; and vesicular arbuscular, where the hyphae in the cortical cells of the root may be coiled or branched. pl. mycorrhizae.
mycosis: a fungal disease of humans, animals or plants.
myxamoeba: in Myxomycota, the amoeboid stage of plasmodial slime moulds in which cells lack walls and feed by phagocytosis.
myxomycete: common name for a member of the Myxomycota.
myxosporium: see perisporium.
N
naked: smooth; not ornamented in any way by hairs or other structures.
navicular: boat-shaped.
necrosis: death, usually of a clearly delimited part of a tissue or plant (Holliday, 1989).
necrotroph: a fungus that kills tissues as it grows through them, such that it is always colonising dead substratum (Holliday, 1989).
net plasmodium: see ectoplasmic net.
nodulose: having wart-like excrescences.
O
ob-: prefix, inversely or oppositely.
oblate: flattened at the poles (Pitt & Hocking, 1985).
obligate parasite: an organism that occurs in intimate association with, and which is wholly dependent for its nutrition on, another living organism (Holliday, 1989).
oblong: twice as long as wide and having the ends somewhat truncated.
obtuse: with blunt or rounded ends.
-oid: suffix, resembling, e.g. balansioid, resembling the genus Balansia.
oidium: (1) a spermatium formed on hyphal branches, especially in heterothallic hymenomycetes; (2) a flat-ended asexual spore formed by breaking up of a hypha into cells (Hawksworth et al., 1983). [Not to be confused with the generic name Oidium used for some anamorphic powdery mildews.] pl. oidia.
oleiferous hypha: a hypha that does not contain latex but often contains resinous substances, and often reacts with acid-aldehydes. cf. lacteriferous hypha.
oogenesis: development of the oogonium after fertilisation.
oogonium: a single-celled female gametangium giving rise to one or more gametes.
ooplasm: in Oomycota, the protoplasm, at the centre of the oogonium, which becomes the oosphere (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. gonoplasm, periplasm.
ooplast: the spherical, translucent to granular inclusion of the oospores of Oomycota (Dick, 1990).
oosphere: the female gamete in oogamous fungi.
oospore: the resting spore produced after fertilisation of the oosphere, or a like structure produced by parthenogenesis.
operculate: with a lid or cover; of an ascus or a sporangium, opening by an apical lid to discharge the ascospores or sporangiospores. cf. inoperculate.
orthotropic: of a basidiospore, where the longitudinal axis of the sterigma corresponds to that of the basidiospore; the basidiospores are not forcibly ejected. cf. heterotropic.
osmophilic: being able to grow under conditions of high osmotic pressure.
ostiole: (1) the cavity (often lined with periphyses) ending in a pore, in the papilla or neck of a perithecium; (2) any pore by which spores are freed from an ascigerous or pycnidial fruit-body (Hawksworth et al., 1983). adj. ostiolate. cf. stoma.
ovate: shaped like a section through the long axis of an egg. cf. ovoid.
ovoid: egg-shaped in three dimensions. cf. ovate.
P
palisade: used to describe hyphae that are erect and parallel with each other.
papilla: a small rounded protuberance. adj. papillate.
papulospore: a small, asexual, indehiscent sclerotium-like structure differentiated into central and sheathing cells (Weresub & LeClair, 1971), as in Papulaspora. cf. bulbil.
papyraceous: parchment- or paper-like. cf. membranous.
paracapillitium: in gasteromycetes, a capillitium consisting of thin-walled, hyaline, septate hyphae in contrast to a true capillitium (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also capillitium.
paragynous: of Pythiaceae, having the antheridium at the side of the oogonium (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. amphigynous, diclinous, epigynous, hypogynous, monoclinous.
paraphysis: a sterile, hyphal element in a hymenium originating at the base, and growing upwards, usually unbranched and not anastomosed, especially in the Ascomycota. pl. paraphyses. See also hamathecium.
paraphysoid: (1) in Basidiomycota, a sterile, accessory, hymenial structure. See also basidiole, cystidiole, hyphidium. (2) in Ascomycota, interascal tissue stretching and eventually resembling pseudoparaphyses, often only remotely septate, anastomosing and very narrow; trabeculate pseudoparaphyses. See also hamathecium.
parasexual cycle: genetic recombination in filamentous fungi based on mitosis. The process involves fusion of haploid nuclei in a heterokaryon, mitotic crossing over followed by haploidisation (Holliday, 1989).
parenthesome: a curved double membrane on either side of a dolipore septum which may be perforate, imperforate or vesiculate (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
part spore: the separate segments of an aeciospore once it disarticulates into several pieces, as in Ostropales, Hypocreales and some other Ascomycota.
partial veil: in agarics, a layer of tissue which joins the stipe to the pileal margin during the development of the hymenium, and which ruptures to become an annulus or cortina. cf. marginal veil.
pathogen: a parasite able to cause disease in a particular host or range of hosts.
pedicel: a stalk.
pellis: in a basidioma, the outer layers of a pileus (pileipellis) or stipe (stipitipellis), not belonging to the veil.
percurrent: (1) producing new growth in the direction of the longitudinal axis, as in a conidial germ tube emerging through the scar left by the abscission of a conidium or a proliferation growing through the tip of the conidiogenous cell; cf. sympodial; (2) extending throughout the entire length, as of the columella of a gasteromycete basidioma.
perfect state: the teleomorph of a fungus; characterised by the production of sexual spores (ascospores, basidiospores, etc.) (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. imperfect state.
periclinal: curving in the direction of, or parallel to, the surface or the circumference. cf. anticlinal.
periclinal thickening: in Coeloanamorphoses, the zone of thicker wall material surrounding the protoplasmic channel at the apex of a phialide.
peridiole: a division of the gleba having a separate wall and frequently acting as a unit for distribution, e.g. in Nidulariales.
peridium: the outer covering of a fruit-body, consisting of one to several layers; used particularly in gasteromycetes and myxomycetes.
periphysis: a hair-like projection inside, or near, the ostiole of a perithecium, pycnidium or pycnium, unbranched and not anastomosing (Hawksworth et al., 1983). pl. periphyses. See also hamathecium.
periphysoid: in an ascoma, a short hypha originating above the level of the developing asci but not reaching the base of the cavity (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also hamathecium.
periplasm: peripheral cytoplasm; in Oomycota, the outer, non-functioning protoplasm of an oogonium or antheridium. cf. gonoplasm, ooplasm.
perisporium: the frequently fugacious spore wall layer external to the exosporium, enveloping the whole spore and limited by the hardly visible ectosporium. On the disappearance of the perisporium and the ectosporium, the exosporium becomes the outer spore wall; myxosporium (Hawksworth et al., 1983). See also ectosporium, endosporium, episporium, exosporium.
peristome: a border around an opening, especially the stoma of certain gasteromycetes.
perithecium: a subglobose or flask-like ascoma with an ostiole; the hymenium remains enclosed.
phaneroplasmodium: the typical, robust plasmodium of Myxomycetes, with a clear network of veins ending in a fan-shaped sheet with a delicate margin, and a very granular protoplasm (Martin & Alexopoulos, 1969). See also aphanoplasmodium, protoplasmodium.
phaseoliform: of a spore, curved; in the shape of a french bean.
phialide: a conidiogenous cell which develops one or more open ends from which a basipetal succession of conidia develops without an increase or decrease in length of the conidiogenous cell itself.
phialidic: of conidiogenesis, enteroblastic conidiogenesis where a conidium is delimited by a new wall which is not derived from existing walls. cf. tretic.
phialoconidium: a phialidic conidium.
photobiont: the photosynthetic partner in a lichen symbiosis, either a green alga or a cyanobacterium. cf. mycobiont.
phragmobasidium: a basidium divided by primary septa, either transversely, vertically or in a cruciate manner. See also heterobasidium. cf. holobasidium.
phragmospore: an asexual spore with two to many transverse septa; with a length:breadth ratio not exceeding 15:1; if elongated, with only a single axis, and that axis not curved through more than 180 degrees; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
phycomycete: common name for a member of the Myxomycota, Oomycota, Hyphochytriomycota, Chytridiomycota and Zygomycota.
phylloplane: the leaf surface; the non-parasitic flora and mycota of the leaf surface.
phytoalexin: a metabolite produced by a plant in response to infection by a fungus or other pathogen (or by an abiotic factor) inhibitory to the invading pathogen.
phytopathology: the branch of science concerned with plant disease.
pileus: the hymenium-bearing structure in non-resupinate basidiomata. pl. pilei. adj. pileate.
pilose: hairy.
plage: a smooth, paler or unpigmented spot on the surface of a spore.
planocyte: a motile cell.
planogamete: a motile gamete; zoogamete.
planospore: a zoospore.
planozygote: a motile zygote.
plasmalemma: the limiting membrane of the cytoplasm; cell, cytoplasmic, or plasma membrane (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
plasmodiocarp: in Myxomycetes, an elongated, branched, usually sessile fruit-body, still showing signs of its plasmodial origin. adj. plamodiocarpous. See also aethalium, sporangium.
plasmodium: a multinucleate mass of protoplasm, motile in Myxomycetes, non-motile in Plasmodiophoromycetes. See also aphanoplasmodium, phaneroplasmodium, protoplasmodium.
plasmogamy: fusion of the cytoplasm of two cells, often preceding karyogamy.
plectenchyma: a dense tissue formed by hyphae becoming twisted and fused together. See also prosenchyma, pseudoparenchyma.
plectomycete: common name for a member of the Ascomycota with completely enclosed, non-ostiolate ascomata; included taxa are treated here in many different orders. adj. plectomycetous.
pleiosporous: with many spores.
pleomorphic: with more than one independent form or spore-stage in the life cycle (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
plerotic: of an oospore, filling the oogonium. cf. aplerotic.
pleurogenous: of conidia, formed along the sides (Sutton, 1980). cf. acrogenous.
plicate: folded into pleats like a fan.
plurivorous: utilising a number of hosts or substrata.
polarilocular: of an ascospore, having two cells separated by a central perforated septum.
polycentric: with a number of centres of growth and development and with more than one reproductive organ. cf. monocentric.
poroid: having pores.
primary septum: a septum formed in association with nuclear division separating cells and having a pore which may, in Basidiomycota, be modified as a dolipore or which may, in Ascomycota, be associated with Woronin bodies; characteristic of higher fungi (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. adventitious septum.
primordium: the earliest stage of development of an organ (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
probasidium: the primary basidial cell in which karyogamy (or enlargement of a single nucleus) occurs prior to nuclear division. It may be thin- or thicker-walled and may either remain wholly or partly at the base of the mature basidium or be obliterated as the basidium develops.
progametangium: in Zygomycetes, a hypha which forms a gametangium and suspensor cell.
prosenchyma: a dense tissue formed by hyphae becoming twisted and fused together, where the hyphal elements remain distinguishable. See also plectenchyma, pseudoparenchyma.
protoplasmodium: a small (less than 1 mm in diameter) primitive plasmodium with highly granular protoplasm, no vein-like strands and no advancing margin; known in only a few genera of myxomycetes (Martin & Alexopoulos, 1969). See also aphanoplasmodium, phaneroplasmodium.
prototunicate: of an ascus, thin-walled, with no obvious apical structures or opening mechanism, often deliquescent at maturity. cf. bitunicate, unitunicate.
protuberate: of conidia, with short projections not qualifying as appendages (Nag Raj, 1993).
pruina: a frost-like or flour-like surface covering. adj. pruinose.
pseudo-: prefix, indicating close or deceptive resemblance to the following element of the word.
pseudoamyloid: see dextrinoid.
pseudocapillitium: in myxomycetes, empty plasmodial strands from which the cytoplasm has been withdrawn, found in some sporocarps, especially aethalia. See also capillitium.
pseudohypha: one of the short chains of cells resembling hyphae found in some yeasts.
pseudoparaphysis: in Ascomycota, a hypha originating in the top of the ascoma and growing down to the base where it becomes attached and may eventually become apically free, often regularly septate, branched and anastomosing and broader than paraphysoids; see also hamathecium; in Basidiomycota, see hyphidium, paraphysoid. pl. pseudoparaphyses.
pseudoparenchyma: a dense tissue formed by hyphae becoming twisted and fixed together where the hyphal components of the tissue are no longer distinguishable. See also plectenchyma, prosenchyma.
pseudoplasmodium: a structure resembling a multinucleate plasmodium that has retained its cell membrane boundaries; an aggregation of amoebae, especially that forming the vegetative stage preceding sporocarp formation in the cellular slime moulds, and moving as a unit.
pseudopodium: a temporary cytoplasmic protrusion of an amoeboid cell used for locomotion or phagocytotic feeding (Margulis et al., 1990).
pseudosclerotium: a compacted mass of intermixed hyphae and substratum.
pseudostem: of gasteromycetes, a stem consisting of spongy tissue in which the hyphae are not orientated parallel to the stipe axis (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
pseudothecium: an ascostromatic ascoma having asci in one to many unwalled locules, as in loculoascomycetes (Alexopoulos & Mims, 1979; Hawksworth et al., 1983).
pubescent: having soft, short hairs.
pulverulent: appearing as though covered with a fine powder.
pulvinate: cushion-like in form.
punctum: a very small spot or depression that appears like a dot. pl. puncta. adj. punctate.
punky: of a basidioma, soft and tough.
pustule: a blister-like spot on a leaf, stem or fruit from which erupts a fruiting structure of a fungus.
pycnidioid: resembling a pycnidium in shape.
pycnidium: a globose or flask-like ostiolate conidioma in which conidia develop; pycnidial conidioma. pl. pycnidia.
pycniospore: a spore produced in a pycnium; the spermatium of the Uredinales.
pycnium: the preferred term for the spermatium-producing structure in Uredinales. pl. pycnia. See also spermogonium.
pycnothyrium: a superficial, shield-shaped, flattened or hemispherical conidioma, comprised of radiating cells, sometimes with only an upper wall, sometimes also with a basal wall (Nag Raj, 1993). adj. pycnothyrial.
pyreniform: shaped like a nut.
pyrenomycete: common name for a member of the Ascomycota with flask-shaped ascomata. adj. pyrenomycetous.
pyriform: pear-shaped.
R
radiate: diverging or spreading outwards from a central point.
receptacle: any organ-bearing or hymenium-bearing structure; in Phallales, the stipe and pileus or the clathrate structure which supports the hymenium.
reniform: kidney-shaped.
repeating: of spores, giving rise to the same type of mycelium as that on which they developed.
repent: prostrate; creeping.
resupinate: of a basidioma, lying flat on the substratum with the hymenium on the outer side.
reticulate: with a net-like pattern; net-like.
retraction septum: see adventitious septum.
revolute: with the edge rolled upwards or backwards. cf. involute.
rhexolytic: dehiscence in which the outer wall of a cell beneath or between conidia breaks down (Kendrick, 1992). cf. schizolytic.
rhizoid: (1) a root-like structure; (2) filamentous extensions of a chytrid or other thallus used for attachment and assimilation (rhizomycelium); (3) in Basidiomycota, a rather large and distinct hypha at the base of a stipe.
rhizomorph: a root-like aggregation of hyphae, with a well-defined apical meristem and often differentiated into a rind of small, dark cells surrounding a central core of elongated hyaline cells. cf. mycelial cord.
rhizoplast: a fibrillar structure in a zoospore connecting the kinetosomes (at its proximal face) with the nuclear envelope.
rimose: cracked, usually in a radial manner.
rivulose: marked with lines shaped like rivulets.
rostrum: a beak-like process. adj. rostrate.
rugose: wrinkled.
rugulose: finely wrinkled.
rumposome: a membranous organelle appressed to a lipid globule in zoospores of Chytridiales and Monoblepharidales to which the flagellar rootlet system microtubules run from the kinetosome (Barr, 1981).
rust: a disease caused by a member of the Uredinales (Uredinomycetes); also the common name for a species in this group.
S
saccate: sac- or bag-like.
sagenogen: a specialised organelle on the cell surface of Labyrinthulomycetes that produces the ectoplasmic net; bothrosome; sagenogenetosome.
sagenogenetosome: = sagenogen.
saprotroph: an organism obtaining its nutrients from dead organic matter; saprobe. adj. saprotrophic, saprobic.
scab: a discrete, superficial lesion involving localised severe roughening or pitting; more commonly abnormal thickening of the surface layers, with or without the development of cork (Holliday, 1989).
scabrid: rough with delicate and irregular projections.
scabrous: rough.
scald: any disease symptom such as a lesion that looks like a scald from boiling water; the lesions are usually bleached and may be partly translucent.
schizolytic: dehiscence in which the halves of a double septum split apart by the breakdown of a kind of middle lamella (Kendrick, 1992). cf. rhexolytic.
sclerotium: (1) a firm, frequently rounded, mass of hyphae with or without the addition of host tissue, normally having no spores in or on it (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. bulbil, stroma. (2) in myxomycetes, the firm, resting condition of a plasmodium.
scolecospore: an asexual spore with or without septa; with a length:breadth ratio greater than 15:1; with a single axis, not curved through more than 180 degrees; any protuberances, other than setulae, not more than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
scorch: any disease symptom such as a lesion that suggests the action of fire on the affected part, especially on leaves or flowers.
scutate: like a round plate or shield.
secession: of conidia, separation of conidia from the conidiogenous locus or neighbouring conidium by schizolysis or rhexolysis (Nag Raj, 1993).
seminicolous: growing on seeds.
septum: an dividing wall between adjacent cells of a hypha or spore. pl. septa. adj. septate. See also primary septum, adventitious septum.
sericeous: silky.
serrate: with a notched or toothed edge, like a saw.
sessile: without a stipe; of a fruit-body, attached directly to the substratum.
seta: a rigid hair, often dark in colour, often thick-walled, with or without septa, found in many taxonomic groups. pl. setae.
setula: a fine, hair-like appendage which is extracellular in origin (Sutton, 1980). adj. setulose.
shot-hole: a leaf-spot disease characterised by holes made by the dead parts dropping out of the lesions.
sinuate: with deep wave-like depressions along the margin; of a lamella, where the lamella is notched at the proximal end at the junction with the stipe.
skeletal hyphae: hyphae that are thick-walled, unbranched or sparsely branched, aseptate, straight or slightly flexuous and have thin-walled apices. cf. binding hyphae, generative hyphae.
slime flux: a thick liquid exuding from branches and trunks of trees and associated with bacteria and fungi, and often also with gas production within the tree causing it to split.
smut: a disease caused by a member of the Ustilaginales (Ustomycetes); also the common name for a species in this group.
soft rot: rotting of tissue, usually the parenchyma, by the activities of a pathogen on the middle lamella of cell walls. The cells become separated but retain their shape for some time.
sorocarp: the minute, usually microscopic, stalked fruit-body of the cellular slime moulds (Acrasiomycetes and Dictyosteliomycetes) formed by migration and aggregation of the cells composing the pseudoplasmodium.
sorophore: stalk of a sorocarp.
sorus: a small, simple, immersed or erumpent fruiting structure, consisting of a discrete mass of spores (often powdery at maturity) and sporogenous cells, sometimes with associated sterile hyphae or bounding (peridial) structures; found in Uredinales, Ustilaginales, Tilletiales, Albuginaceae (Peronosporales) and some other taxa; the superficially similar structures in some Synchytriaceae (Chytridiales). pl. sori.
spathulate: spoon shaped.
spermatium: (1) a fertilizing sex cell, e.g. an oidium or the pycniospore of the Uredinales; (2) a microconidium in discomycetes and pyrenomycetes; (3) a non-motile gamete (Hawksworth et al., 1983). pl. spermatia.
spermogonium: a structure producing spermatia, naked (as in some Ascomycota) or more or less surrounded by wall structures (as in many Uredinales). See also pycnium.
sphaerocyte: a globose cell of the pellis or veil.
spiculum: see sterigma.
spinose: spiny.
spinulose: with minute spines.
spora: a population of fungal spores in a dispersal medium such as air or water.
sporangiole: a small sporangium without a columella, usually having only a small number (less than 50) of spores; sporangiolum. pl. sporangiola. cf. merosporangium.
sporangiophore: a sporophore supporting a sporangium.
sporangiospore: a spore produced in a sporangium. cf. conidium.
sporangium: (1) a structure that produces endogenous, asexual spores by cytoplasmic cleavage; (2) in Myxomycetes, a discrete, sessile or stalked fruit-body, often occurring in large groups which have developed from a single plasmodium. adj. sporangiate.
spore: a general term for a reproductive structure in fungi, bacteria and cryptogams, commonly one-celled, but in fungi frequently a multicelled structure which is in effect a group of one-celled spores because every cell may produce one or more germ tubes (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
spore axis: a line that passes through the centre of the spore from one extremity to the other. If there are more than two extremities, there is more than one axis.
spore wall: the walls of spores are usually layered. from the inner layer outwards these are referred to as: endosporium, episporium, exosporium or epitunica, perisporium or myxosporium, and ectosporium.
sporidium: a basidiospore of a species of Urediniomycetes, Ustomycetes and bunts and related taxa (Tilletiales and Filbasidiales); in the case of smuts and bunts, any spore other than an ustilospore. pl. sporidia.
sporocarp: any spore-bearing organ; fruit-body; especially in Acrasiomycetes, Myxomycetes, Endogonales and Glomales.
sporodochium: a conidioma with superficial pulvinate stroma supporting conidiophores or conidiogenous cells on its upper surface and not covered by the substratum (Nag Raj, 1993). adj. sporodochial.
sporogenesis: spore formation (Holmes, 1979).
sporogenous: producing or supporting spores; of yeasts, yeasts with teleomorphs in either the Ascomycota or the Basidiomycota. cf. asporogenous.
sporophore: a spore-bearing or spore-supporting structure in fungi, which may be simple as in sporangiophore or complex as in ascomata and basidiomata; fruit-body.
squamose: with scales.
squamule: a small scale. adj. squamulose.
statismospore: a basidiospore that is not forcibly discharged. cf. ballistospore.
staurospore: an asexual spore with or without septa; more than one axis; with axes not curved through more than 180 degrees; protuberances, other than setulae, present and greater than 1/4 the length of the spore body (Kendrick & Nag Raj, 1979). See also conidium for other morphological types of conidia.
stellate: star-shaped.
sterigma: an extension from the metabasidium, bearing a terminal basidiospore; it consists of an apical, spore-bearing projection (the spiculum), and a basal thin or inflated stalk (the protosterigma). pl. sterigmata.
stichobasidium: a cylindrical holobasidium with nuclear spindles longitudinal and situated about the middle of the basidium (Donk, 1964). See also chiastobasidium, holobasidium.
stilbaceous: bearing synnemata.
stilboid: applied to small (to several mm high) stalked fruit-bodies with a swollen head (i.e. stipitate-capitate), which resemble in shape basidiomata of the genus Stilbum; found commonly in some Basidiomycota but also in other divisions.
stipe: stalk. adj. stipitate.
stipe-columella: a stipe which supports the receptacle and also penetrates the gleba forming a percurrent columella.
stoma: specialised pore in epidermis of plant, through which some fungi infect; in gasteromycetes and some other groups, a small opening of the fruit-body through which spores are discharged. pl. stomata. cf. ostiole.
stomatopodium: a hyphal branch (appressorium) or 'plug' above or in a stoma of a plant (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
stramineous: straw-coloured, yellowish.
striate: marked with delicate lines, grooves or ridges.
strigose: bearing large, bristle-like, coarse hairs.
stripe: a disease characterised by elongate lesions or discoloured areas on stems or on leaves with parallel venation.
stroma: a mass of vegetative fungal tissue or a mixture of host or substratum and fungal tissue in or upon which the fruit-body develops. pl. stromata. cf. bulbil, sclerotium.
sub-: prefix, under, below, less than; usually in the sense of approximating to the qualified term.
subgleba: a sterile, filamentous or chambered tissue which supports the gleba (Miller & Miller, 1988).
subhymenium: the generative tissue subtending the hymenium; hymenopodium.
subhypothallic: mode of fruit-body development in Myxomycetes subclass Myxogastromycetidae where the hypothallus forms as a sheath on top of the plasmodium during fruit-body formation, and tubular sporangial stalks are filled with cells or cell debris (Martin & Alexopoulos, 1969). See also epihypothallic.
subiculum: a net-, wool-, or crust-like growth of mycelium under fruit-bodies (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
subpseudopodium: a fine extension occurring at the leading edge of a pseudopodium.
subulate: slender, more or less cylindrical, and tapering to a point; awl-shaped.
sulcate: grooved, not necessarily longitudinally. cf. canaliculate.
superficial: occurring on the surface of the substratum; not enclosed by fungal or host tissue.
supra-: prefix, above; usually emphasising position or situation.
suspensor: in Zygomycota, the cell or hypha supporting a gamete, especially a zygospore.
swarm spore: zoospore; mastigote propagule.
sympodial: of a conidiogenous cell, making new growth around (to the side of) the scar left by abscission of a conidium. cf. percurrent.
synanamorph: any one of the two or more anamorphs which have the same teleomorph (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
synascus: the gametangium of the Protomycetales, formed by germination of a thick-walled resting spore, either as a vesicle external to the spore or enclosed by resting spore wall; also used for the gametangium of the Ascosphaerales. pl. synasci.
synnema: consisting of a more or less compacted group of erect and sometimes fused conidiophores bearing conidia at the apex only or on both the apex and the sides (Hawksworth et al., 1983). pl. synnemata.
synnematous: with conidiophores borne in tightly packed clusters, as in a synnema. cf. mononematous.
T
teleomorph: the sexual form or morph of a fungus; perfect state. cf. anamorph, holomorph.
teleomorphosis: = teleomorph.
teliospore: in Uredinales, the spore, usually (but not always) a resting or winter spore, from which the basidium is produced. Used previously for the spore in Ustilaginales and Tilletiales now called an ustilospore.
telium: a sorus producing teliospores.
tetraradiate: of a spore, with four axes.
tetraspore: in a basidium, one of the spores from a four-spored basidium. cf. dispore.
textura: fruit-body tissue, originally applied to discomycetes, now used for all ascomycetes and coelomycetes. Korf (1958) defined seven tissue types; the figures are reproduced in Hawksworth et al. (1983).
thallic: (1) of the thallus; (2) of conidiogenesis, one of the two basic sorts of conidiogenesis, in which any enlargement of the recognisable conidial initial occurs after the initial has been delimited by one or more septa; the conidium is differentiated from a whole cell (Hawksworth et al., 1983). cf. blastic.
thalloconidium: a conidium formed by thallic conidiogenesis; types include arthroconidium, chlamydospore. cf. blastoconidium.
thallus: the vegetative body of a fungus.
tinsel: see mastigoneme.
tomentose: covered with soft, matted hairs.
toruloid: with swollen cells like a chain of pearls (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
trabecula: a beam-like projection or process; in Basidiomycota, a lamellar primordium or plates of tissue in a young gasteromycete gleba giving rise eventually to a branched columella; in Ascomycota, see paraphysoid. pl. trabeculae.
trama: in hymenomycetes, any sterile tissue within a basidioma, e.g. in lamella, spine, but also in stipe or pileus; context. adj. tramal.
tramal plate: in gasteromycetes, layer of tissue partially or entirely devoted to the production of basidia.
translucent-striate: of a pileus, appearing striate because the lamellae are visible through the thin pileus.
tretic: of conidiogenesis, enteroblastic conidiogenesis in which each conidium is limited by an extension of the inner wall of the conidiogenous cell. cf. phialidic.
trichogyne: the receptive hypha of the female organ, especially in some Ascomycota. See also ascogonium.
trimitic: having three types of hyphae: generative, skeletal and binding. cf. dimitic, monomitic.
troop: a group of hundreds or even thousands of fruit-bodies, especially basidiomata, in a few square metres.
truncate: ending abruptly as though the end had been cut off.
tuberculate: bearing small, wart-like processes or nodules; of a fruit-body, raised or wart-like in shape.
tuberiform: tuber-like.
tunica: a coat; in conidia, a rigid layer, exterior to the cell wall, as opposed to a mucilaginous sheath. adj. tunicate.
turbinate: top-shaped; flattened at the apex and abruptly tapered at the base.
tylosis: a balloon-like enlargement, protruding into the cavity of a cell, and thus blocking it. pl. tyloses.
U
umbilicate: of a pileus, having a small hollow on the top above the stipe.
umbo: a central swelling. adj. umbonate.
uncinate: hooked.
undulate: wavy, not flat.
undulipodium: cilium; sperm tail; motility organelle covered by cell membrane; the term preferred by Margulis et al. (1990) for the flagellum in eukaryotes.
uniseriate: of spores in an ascus, in one row. cf. biseriate.
unitunicate: of an ascus, without an inner wall; with one wall, the wall layers not splitting apart at discharge. cf. bitunicate, prototunicate.
universal veil: in agarics and gasteromycetes, a layer of tissue that initially covers the basidioma. See also volva.
urceolate: deeply concave; urn-shaped.
urediniospore: in Uredinales, a repeating vegetative spore, usually on a dikaryotic mycelium; typically aseptate, pedicellate, deciduous, pigmented, usually echinulate or sometimes finely verrucose and usually with two or more germ pores.
uredinium: in Uredinales, a sorus producing urediniospores. pl. uredinia. adj. uredinial.
ustidium: term used for the basidium of Ustilaginales and Tilletiales (Moore, 1985).
ustilospore: the spore of a smut (Ustilaginales) or bunt (Tilletiales) which, on germination, gives rise to a basidium or, more rarely, a hypha; formerly called chlamydospore or teliospore.
utriform: bag-like; sac-like.
V
veil: see universal veil, partial veil, and marginal veil.
velum: veil.
velutinous: thickly covered with delicate hairs; velvety.
ventricose: swollen, often in the middle or to one side; of a lamella, broader midway between the stipe and the margin of the pileus.
vermiform: worm-like.
verrucose: (1) with the surface ornamented by small rounded processes or 'warts' (Nag Raj, 1993); (2) distinctly and regularly rough-walled (de Hoog & Guarro, 1995).
verruculose: delicately verrucose.
versicoloured: of different colours. cf. concolorous.
verticillate: whorled.
vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza: see mycorrhiza.
vesicle: (1) a sac or bladder; (2) a swelling. adj. vesiculate.
villous (villose): covered with long, soft hairs. cf. hirsute.
virgate: streaked.
viscid: very sticky.
volva: in agarics and gasteromycetes, the cup-like remains of the lower part of the universal veil attached to the base of the stipe or receptacle. adj. volvate.
W
Woronin bodies: the highly refractive, globose to oval microbodies in cells of Ascomycota, present especially in the cytoplasm on either side of septal pores.
Y
yeast: common name for an artificial assemblage of higher fungi which have temporarily or permanently abandoned the use of hyphal thalli; they are unicellular, and vegetative reproduction is generally by budding or fission.
Z
zonate: having concentric lines often forming paler and darker zones.
zoogamete: see planogamete. adj. zygogamous.
zoosporangium: a sporangium producing zoospores.
zoospore: a flagellate sporangiospore; mastigote propagule; swarm spore.
zygomycete: common name for a member of the Zygomycota, the zygospore being the diagnostic character.
zygophore: in Zygomycota, a specialised hyphal branch involved in copulation.
zygospore: a resting spore resulting from the conjugation of isogametes or the fusion of like gametangia in the Zygomycota (Hawksworth et al., 1983).
zygote: a diploid cell formed as a result of fusion of two haploid nuclei during sexual reproduction.
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