hypnocyst

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A sleeping cyst; a quiescent encysted protozoan which does not sporulate.
2. n. In botany, same as akinete.

Wiktionary

1. n. biology A cyst in which some unicellular organisms temporarily enclose themselves, from which they emerge unchanged, after a period of drought or deficiency of food.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Biol.) A cyst in which some unicellular organisms temporarily inclose themselves, from which they emerge unchanged, after a period of drought or deficiency of food. In some instances, a process of spore formation seems to occur within such cysts.