appressorium Bot.
(æprɛˈsɔərɪəm)
Pl. -ia.
[mod.L., f. L. appress-, ppl. stem of apprimĕre, f. ad ad- + premĕre to press: see -orium.]
The organ by which certain fungi attach themselves to their hosts.
| 1897 W. G. Smith tr. Tubeuf's Diseases Plants Cryptogr. Parasites i. i. 10 The mycelium retains its hold by adhesion-discs or appressoria, and from certain parts of these a fine thread-like process is given off. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 555/1 Appressoria are also formed by some parasitic Fungi, as a minute flattening of the top of a very short branch..or the swollen end of any hypha which comes in contact with..the host. 1937 Gwynne-Vaughan & Barnes Struct. & Devel. Fungi (ed. 2) 187 An external disc or appressorium, from which,..the haustorium proper arises and pushes into the epidermal cell. |