endophyte

American  

[en-duh-fahyt] / ˈɛn dəˌfaɪt /

noun

Botany.

1. a plant living within another plant, usually as a parasite.

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endophyte British  

/ ˈɛndəʊˌfaɪt /

noun

1. a fungus, or occasionally an alga or other organism, that lives within a plant

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Other Word Forms

• endophytic
  adjective
• endophytous
  adjective
• endophytically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of endophyte

First recorded in 1825–35; endo- + -phyte

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

endophyte

The study 'A nucleoside signal generated by fungal endophyte regulates host cell death and promotes root colonization' was published in Cell Host & Microbe.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024

A LuxR homolog in a cottonwood tree endophyte that activates gene expression in response to a plant signal or specific peptides.

From Nature ● Nov. 14, 2017

Slowly, the benefits of the endophyte and rhizoid interactions for both partners led to present-day mycorrhizae; up to about 90 percent of today’s vascular plants have associations with fungi in their rhizosphere.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

You can't determine that fescue is infected with the endophyte just by looking at it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sounds good, but after producers struggled to keep their stands of the low-endophyte varieties, agronomists discovered that the endophyte is what gives fescue its tolerance to drought and grazing pressure.

From Time Magazine Archive