hypothallus

American  

[hahy-puh-thal-uhs, hip-uh-] / ˌhaɪ pəˈθæl əs, ˌhɪp ə- /

noun

hypothalli plural

1. a layer of hyphae rimming the thallus of certain lichens.

2. a filmlike residue at the base of the sporangia of certain slime molds.

---

Etymology

Origin of hypothallus

From New Latin, dating back to 1850–55; see origin at hypo-, thallus

Example Sentences

"The sporangia stand either aggregated or bunched together in heaps of five to twelve, adnate to the hypothallus by a narrow base, etc."

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

Stipe and columella erect, brown and smooth, rising from a thin pallid hypothallus, tapering upward and vanishing into the capillitium toward the apex of the sporangium, the stipe usually longer than the columella.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

The hypothallus is sometimes noticeable under some of the sporangia where closely crowded, but is not a constant feature.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

The hypothallus is sometimes hardly discoverable, anon well developed, out-spread, rugulose, far beyond the limits of the fructification.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

Many are here horizontally placed, and perhaps supplied with an imperfectly formed peridium,—if so are to be interpreted the lowest parts of the capillitial structure, the long, branching, ribbon-like strands which lie along the hypothallus.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)