gleba

[glee-buh]

noun

Mycology.

plural

glebae 

1. the sporogenous tissue forming the central part of the sporophore in certain fungi, as in puffballs and stinkhorns.

gleba

plural

glebae 

1. The fleshy, spore-bearing inner mass of the basidiomycete fungus known as the puffball.

Other Word Forms

• glebal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gleba¹

1840–50; < New Latin, Latin glēba clod; glebe

Example Sentences

The fruit-bodies are of very various shapes, showing a differentiation into an outer peridium and an inner spore-bearing mass, the gleba.

From Project Gutenberg

When old the gleba consists of a dusty mass of threads and spores.

From Project Gutenberg

Peridium irregularly globose, thick, attenuated downward into a stem-like base, opening by disintegration of its upper portion; internal mass or gleba divided into distinct sac-like cells.

From Project Gutenberg

During this elongation of the receptacle a large part of the substance of the gleba dissolves into a thick liquid containing the spores.

From Project Gutenberg

We have not examined any specimens of Camillea globosa, but suspect a section would show two divisions of the gleba, as in the next.

From Project Gutenberg