This glossary explains biological, botanical, zoological and mycological terms, as well as terms used in cecidology. It is intended to make the numerous technical terms used in the photo gallery and on the information pages of this website easier to understand.
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Abundance
The frequency or number of organisms, or in fungi also the number of fruiting bodies, in relation to a unit area or a vegetation type. Abundance is recorded in mycological ecological studies using various methods, for example by counting or weighing the fruiting bodies.
Acervulus
An acervulus is a conidioma of imperfect fungi, particularly of phytoparasites. It consists of a compact, sharply delimited, saucer-shaped mycelial cushion embedded in host tissue, on which the conidiophores are arranged in a palisade. The structure is initially covered by the host epidermis, which later ruptures when the conidia mature. Fungi forming acervuli are traditionally grouped in the form-order Melanconiales. Aleuriospores, blastospores or phialospores are formed in acervuli. Occasionally, the uredia and telia of Uredinales, and more rarely the sori of Ustilaginales, are also called acervuli.
Acidophilous
An ecological term for acid-loving species. Acidophilous fungi occur exclusively or preferentially on substrates with a pH below 6.5. See also basiphilous.
Adult
Adult is a synonym for mature and refers particularly to the life stage of an organism after reaching sexual maturity.
Aecidium
An aecidium is a cup-shaped spore-bearing structure in which the aecidiospores of rust fungi (Uredinales) are produced. Aecidia occur on the underside of the leaves of the host plant. The image shows a detail of Aecidium ranunculis-acris.
Aecium / Aecia
An aecium or aecia is a type of spore-bearing structure occurring in the secondary fruiting stage of rust fungi (Pucciniales), which grow as endoparasites of vascular plants. It consists of a mycelium with dikaryotic cells that produces aeciospores by budding. Depending on the form of their aecia, rust fungi whose main fruiting stage is unknown are traditionally divided into form genera: Caeoma for simple aecia without peridia, Aecidium for cup-shaped spore-bearing structures with peridia open at the top, Peridermium for aecia with walls initially closed like a dome, and Roestelia for species producing lattice-like peridia.
Agamous
Reproducing without fertilisation; also called asexual parthenogenesis.
Allantoid
Cylindrically curved and single-celled, describing a spore shape that is bean- or sausage-like, especially in conidia and ascospores.
Amyloid
A violet or black coloration of cell walls, including spore ornamentation or spore deposits, in Melzer’s reagent. It is an important diagnostic feature, especially in white-spored fungal groups.
Anamorph
A developmental stage of pleomorphic fungi in which no meiospores are produced (the imperfect or secondary fruiting stage). Reproduction generally occurs through conidia. The opposite is a teleomorph, the main fruiting stage in which reproductive stages resulting from a sexual process produce meiospores.
Anastomoses
In botany, a variably used term for partial contact and fusion of xylem strands or leaf veins, or for the connection of two stronger leaf veins by two thinner ones. In mycology, it refers either to the connection of two hyphae of the same fungal species, by direct fusion or by lateral outgrowths, allowing the protoplasts to unite and nuclei to pass between cells, or to connections between the radially arranged gills on the underside of agarics.
Angiocarpous
A term for fungal fruiting bodies with a preformed opening for spore dispersal that remains closed at least until the spores are mature, for example in gasteroid fungi, where the peridium often ruptures in a characteristic way, and in many ascomycetes.
Apical apparatus
The opening mechanism at the apex of the asci of ascomycetes through which ascospores are released; also called the ascus pore or apical opening.
Apophysis
A swelling of a stalk at the base of a sporangium or spore, for example at the base of the endoperidium of some earthstars (Geastrales), or a ring-shaped swelling at the base of the capsule in some mosses.
Apothecium
Apothecia are open, saucer-, disc- or cup-shaped fruiting bodies of ascomycetes or lichens. In contrast to the enclosed perithecium, the fertile spore-bearing surface is exposed.
Apterous
Completely wingless and incapable of flight; used particularly for insects.
Arboricolous
The way of life of animals that live mainly in tree crowns and are adapted to this habitat.
Archaeophyte
Archaeophytes are non-native plants that are not indigenous to a particular area but arrived there long ago, before 1492, or were introduced by humans.
Ascoma
A fruiting body of ascomycetes in which the asci develop.
Ascomycete
Ascomycetes produce their spores in sac-like structures called asci, hence the name.
Ascus
A predominantly cylindrical, sac-like cell in which spores are produced in ascomycetes. In truffles, asci are often sac-shaped.
Assimilates
Assimilates are energy-rich organic substances produced by plants during the metabolic process of assimilation.
Assimilation
Assimilation comprises metabolic processes in which substances foreign to the organism are converted into substances of its own. These processes require energy. Photosynthesis, for example, is a form of assimilation. Green plants and some bacteria can obtain the required energy from light. They take up inorganic substances such as water, mineral nutrients and carbon dioxide and convert them by photosynthesis into energy-rich organic substances such as sugars, fats and proteins. The energy-rich substances produced in assimilation are called assimilates.
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