Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
appressorium

appressorium

1 9.9
A special cell that some fungi make to stick to and break into a plant or animal
  • noun
  • /əˌprɛsəˈrɪəm/
  • Specialized
: apresor
  • The appressorium forms a strong attachment to the host plant.

Examples

  • Fungi use their appressoria to penetrate plant surfaces.

  • The fungus uses its appressorium to attach firmly to the surface of the host plant.

  • The fungus develops an appressorium to break through the plant's outer layer.

  • Researchers observed the formation of appressoria under the microscope during the infection process.

  • Without a functional appressorium, the fungus cannot invade its host successfully.

  • During infection, the appressorium helps the fungus penetrate the leaf cuticle.

  • Researchers studied the formation of the appressorium to understand how fungi infect crops.

Surface Forms

appressorium singular
appressoria plural

Morphology

appressorium = appress + orium

A specialized technical formation (appress- + -orium) whose meaning cannot be derived by an average learner from the visible parts; the components are combining forms rather than familiar modern English words.

Etymology

The word appressorium comes from Latin roots meaning 'to press', the same root you see in press and pressure, and the ending -orium marks it as a thing or tool. So an appressorium is a tiny fungal cell that presses against a plant to stick and help the fungus get inside.