‖ gonidium Bot.
(gəʊˈnɪdɪəm)
Pl. gonidia.
[mod.L., dim. on Gr. type of γόνος child, produce.]
1. One of the cells filled with chlorophyll which are formed beneath the cortical layer in the thallus of lichens; now known to be imprisoned algæ.
| 1845 E. Tuckerman N. Amer. Lichens 29 The gonidia exist primarily as the gonimous layer. 1856 W. L. Lindsay Brit. Lichens 58 The gonidium is a cellular bud, a reproductive cell. 1877 [see gonidial]. |
2. a. A reproductive cell produced asexually in algæ. b. The conidium in fungi.
| 1882 [see conidium]. 1889 in Century Dict. |
Hence goˈnidial, goˈnidic adjs., of or pertaining to gonidia; gonidiˈogenous a., producing or having the power to produce gonidia; goˈnidioid a., resembling the gonidia of lichens; goˈnidiose a., containing or provided with gonidia. Also goˈnidiophore = conidiophore.
| 1845 E. Tuckerman N. Amer. Lichens 29 The gonidial propagation will be first described. 1856 W. L. Lindsay Brit. Lichens 38 A thin, bright-green, gonidic layer. 1857 Berkeley Cryptog. Bot. 341 Gonidioid cells in various conditions. 1877 Bennett tr. Thomé's Bot. 286 At the line where they meet the gonidia almost always constitute a zone of variable thickness, the gonidial layer. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 273 The septum bulges out and developes into a new gonidial receptacle. 1882 Crombie in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 556/2 Many of these forms are more or less similar to ‘gonidioid’ algæ. Ibid. 557/1 The origin of the first Cortical Gonidiogenous Cellules. Ibid. 558/2 Plants..in which the thallus is but sparingly gonidiose. 1887 tr. Goebel's Outl. Classif. & Morphol. Plants 131 Besides these large gonidiophores, the mycelia of many genera also bear [etc.]. |