hypha

American  

[hahy-fuh] / ˈhaɪ fə /

noun

• hyphae
  plural

1. (in a fungus) one of the threadlike elements of the mycelium.

---

hypha British  

/ ˈhaɪfə /

noun

1. any of the filaments that constitute the body (mycelium) of a fungus

---

hypha Scientific  

/ hī′fə /

• hyphae
  plural

1. One of the long slender tubes that develop from germinated spores and form the structural parts of the body of a fungus. In many species of fungi, hyphae are divided into sections by cross walls called septa. Each section contains at least one haploid nucleus, and the septa usually have perforations that allow cytoplasm to flow through the hypha. A large mass of hyphae is known as a mycelium, which is the growing form of most fungi. From time to time, hyphae develop reproductive structures that are partitioned from the hypha by holeless septa. In many species, these structures are microscopic; in others, they are visible and large. Mushrooms and shelf fungi are visible reproductive structures of fungi.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hyphal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hyphae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hypha

1865–70; < New Latin < Greek hyphḗ web

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hypha hyphae

Fungi can reproduce asexually by releasing spores or simply breaking off a hypha or budding off a cell.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018

Other asexual spores originate in the fragmentation of a hypha to form single cells that are released as spores; some of these have a thick wall surrounding the fragment.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Conidiospores are unicellular or multicellular spores that are released directly from the tip or side of the hypha.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

In most phyla of fungi, tiny holes in the septa allow for the rapid flow of nutrients and small molecules from cell to cell along the hypha.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

If the hypha is the morphological test of a fungus, then it is plain that the slime-moulds are not fungi.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride

Tests with other organisms showed that the method can even replicate the root structure of fungi, called hyphae.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 19, 2024

Both treatments caused the same dramatic effect: the hyphae elongated much more slowly and with a strange nub shape not found in nature.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024

Following the spore-covered body down into the soil, they found a mummified spider swaddled in fungal filaments called hyphae.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 1, 2023

First, exoenzymes are transported out of the hyphae, where they process nutrients in the environment.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

D, The same, beginning to be surrounded by the hyphae forming the perithecium wall.

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