Pycnidia

A pycnidium (plural pycnidia) is an asexual

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cy ...

produced by mitosporic

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, for instance in the order

Sphaeropsidales Sphaeropsidales is an order of Coelomycetes fungi. These are conidial fungi where the conidia form in a growing cavity in the host's tissue. The fruiting structures are spherical with an opening at the apex (pycnidia). Four form-families can ...

( Deuteromycota,

Coelomycetes Coelomycetes are a form-class of fungi, part of what has often been referred to as Fungi imperfecti, Deuteromycota, or anamorphic fungi. These are conidial fungi where the conidia form in a growing cavity in the host's tissue. The fruiting stru ...

) or order Pleosporales (

Ascomycota Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...

, Dothideomycetes). It is often

spherical A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ce ...

or inversely pearshaped ( obpyriform) and its internal cavity is lined with

conidiophore A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

s. When ripe, an opening generally appears at the top, through which the

pycnidiospore {{Short pages monitor