Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, threadlike hyphae.
- noun A similar mass of fibers formed by certain bacteria.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The vegetative part of the thallus of fungi, composed of one or more hyphæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The white threads or filamentous growth from which a mushroom or fungus is developed; the so-called mushroom spawn.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
vegetative part of anyfungus , consisting of amass ofbranching ,threadlike hyphae , oftenunderground .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching threadlike hyphae
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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We have now discovered that there is a multi-directional transfer of nutrients between plants, mitigated by the mcyelium -- so the mycelium is the mother that is giving nutrients from alder and birch trees to hemlocks, cedars and Douglas firs.
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We have now discovered that there is a multi-directional transfer of nutrients between plants, mitigated by the mcyelium -- so the mycelium is the mother that is giving nutrients from alder and birch trees to hemlocks, cedars and Douglas firs.
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We have now discovered that there is a multi-directional transfer of nutrients between plants, mitigated by the mcyelium -- so the mycelium is the mother that is giving nutrients from alder and birch trees to hemlocks, cedars and Douglas firs.
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The mycelium is the fibrous underground network of the mushroom.
Quartermasters of Terror Keefe, Patrick Radden 2005
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The mycelium is the most important part of the fungous growth.
Studies of Trees Jacob Joshua Levison
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Wherever this vegetative stage, technically known as mycelium, penetrates, the bark is killed; and of course, you all know what that means.
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These are common parasitical plants, originating in the production of copious filamentous threads, called the mycelium, or spawn.
The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861
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These are common parasitical plants, originating in the production of copious filamentous threads, called the mycelium, or spawn.
The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861
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"The mold that grows off the surface of these cheeses gives off real small microscopic rootlets called mycelium that actually grow into the cheese and give off enzymes that the mold can feed off of," Lehner says.
Chicago Reader 2010
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Collectively, the hyphae make up the mycelium, which is equivalent to the "body" of the fungus organism.
unknown title 2009
yarb commented on the word mycelium
The white, thread-like mycelia are cultivated in vaulted chambers as large as a man's head, located deep within the formicary. They form great loose masses, hung from the ceiling, and binding together cut leaves, plucked and placed there for them by the ants. Normally these thread-like hyphae are uniform in diameter. Under the cultivation of the ants, however, they are induced to develop knobs at their tips, which have been called "kohl-rabi heads," because of the resemblance to that garden vegetable. It is upon the liquid secretion of these bulbs that all the adults of the colony live, and it constitutes their sole food.
- Caryl P. Haskins, Of Ants and Men, 1939, p. 39
December 5, 2008