Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A group of fungus-like organisms, the slime-molds or slime-fungi, belonging, according to the classification of De Bary, to the Mycetozoa, and numbering about 300 species.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural (Bot.) A class of peculiar organisms, the slime molds, formerly regarded as animals (Mycetozoa), but now generally thought to be plants and often separated as a distinct phylum (Myxophyta); essentially equivalent to the division Myxomycota. They are found on damp earth and decaying vegetable matter, and consist of naked masses of protoplasm, often of considerable size, which creep very slowly over the surface and ingest solid food.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the class of true slime molds; essentially equivalent to the division Myxomycota
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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a short time after (see Saville Kent on the "myxomycetes").
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We believe the difference to lie in that the white corpuscles, over and above the complement, contain an anti-complement substance as well which prevents the action of the complement, just as the myxomycetes besides the acid juice contain alkaline substances.
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-- Formerly myxomycetes were included in the fungi; they are now recognized as belonging to the animal kingdom, and are termed "mycetozoa."
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When the germinating spores of the fungi, _myxomycetes_, rupture their walls and become masses of naked protoplasm, they are known as plasmodia.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887 Various
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However, this fact mostly refers to the myxomycetes, which are the only macroscopic slime molds.
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