conidium

American  

[koh-nid-ee-uhm, kuh-] / koʊˈnɪd i əm, kə- /

noun

Botany.

plural

conidia

1. (in fungi) an asexual spore formed by abstriction at the top of a hyphal branch.

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conidium British  

/ kəʊˈnɪdɪəm /

noun

1. an asexual spore formed at the tip of a specialized hypha (conidiophore) in fungi such as Penicillium

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conidium Scientific  

/ kə-nĭd′ē-əm /

plural

conidia

1. An asexually produced fungal spore, formed on a conidiophore. Most conidia are dispersed by the wind and can endure extremes of cold, heat, and dryness. When conditions are favorable, they germinate and grow into hyphae.

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Other Word Forms

• conidial adjective
• conidian adjective

Etymology

Origin of conidium

1865–70; < Greek kón ( is ) dust (akin to incinerate ) + -idium

Example Sentences

When it has reached the front of the opening in the conidium, which is thus emptied, the mass remains immovable.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

A short time after the appearance of the vacuoles the entire conidium extends itself so that the papilla disappears.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

According to his view, the ascus is in effect the sporangium with several spores, the conidium the sporangiole with but one spore, and that not loose but fused with the sporangiole wall.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

Lastly, there is a third mode of germination which the conidia of P. infestans manifest, and which consists in the conidium emitting from its summit a simple or branched germ-tube.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

Aspergillus glaucus; b. conidia; c. germinating conidium; d. conceptacle of Eurotium; e. ascus.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)