sorus

American  

[sawr-uhs, sohr-] / ˈsɔr əs, ˈsoʊr- /

noun

sori plural

1. Botany. one of the clusters of sporangia on the back of the fronds of ferns.

2. Mycology. a soruslike spore mass of certain fungi and lichens.

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sorus British  

/ ˈsɔːrəs /

noun

1. a cluster of sporangia on the undersurface of certain fern leaves

2. any of various similar spore-producing structures in some lichens and fungi

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sorus Scientific  

/ sôr′əs /

sori plural

1. A cluster of sporangia borne on the underside of a fern frond. A sorus is sometimes covered by an indusium.

2. Also called fruitdot

3. A reproductive structure consisting of masses of spores, characteristic of certain fungi such as rusts and smuts.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• sori
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sorus

1825–35; < New Latin < Greek sōrós heap

Example Sentences

But Brock also thought she saw something else in the sorus.

From Slate • Jan. 19, 2011

Sori linear, confluent in pairs, each pair appearing like a single sorus with a double indusium opening down the middle.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Synangium, si-nan′ji-um, n. an arterial trunk: the boat-shaped sorus of certain ferns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Indusium star-shaped, of a few irregular segments fixed beneath the sorus, often obscure.

From The Fern Lover's Companion A Guide for the Northeastern States and Canada by Tilton, George Henry

This occasionally happens from the elongation of the normally placed sorus, which thus extends to the margin, and returns on the upper side, when the sori chance to be placed opposite to the marginal crenatures.

From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Masters, Maxwell T.