hypha

American  

[hahy-fuh] / ˈhaɪ fə /

noun

hyphae plural

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

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hypha British  

/ ˈhaɪfə /

noun

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

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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.

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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

One hypha has a round sporangium, about 35 microns in diameter, at the tip.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Figure 4. This bright field light micrograph shows the release of spores from a sporangium at the end of a hypha called a sporangiophore.

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

It is, perhaps, worthy of remark that in Chionyphe Carteri the threads grow over the cysts exactly as the hypha of lichens is represented as growing over the gonidia.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

The hyphae of water molds -- fungus-like pathogens that cause blight in crops -- are particularly pointy.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024

They used one chemical that reduces pressure within the hyphae and another derived from a sea sponge that blocks the hypha's ability to deliver cellular components to the tip of the cell.

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

The fungus penetrates the tissue of the worm by extending specialized hyphae called haustoria.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

In the more complex tissue-bodies of higher fungi, however, we find considerable differences in the various layers or strands of hyphae.

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