< Neo-Latin: literally, imperfect fungi
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| (used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English.) |
| an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language. |
Fungi Imperfecti Fungi Im·per·fec·ti (ĭm'pər-fěk'tī)
n.
A phylum of fungi that are without a sexual stage in their life cycle, reproducing only by asexual spores. Also called Deuteromycetes.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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fungi imperfecti
fungi (kingdom Fungi) in which a true sexual state is uncommon or unknown. Many of these fungi reproduce asexually by spores (conidia or oidia) or by budding. Conidial stages are similar to those in the phylum Ascomycota, but those of some species show affinities to lower (primitive) fungi and the phylum Basidiomycota. Because of this ambiguity, the term deuteromycetes is used only to describe some species of fungi and has very little importance in the classification of fungi.
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