ergot

er·got  (ûrgt, -gt)

n.

1. A fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that infects various cereal plants and forms compact black masses of branching filaments that replace many of the grains of the host plant.

2. The disease caused by such a fungus.

3. The dried sclerotia of ergot, usually obtained from rye seed and used as a source of several medicinally important alkaloids and as the basic source of lysergic acid.

---

[French, from Old French argot, cock's spur (from its shape).]

---

er·gotic adj.

---

ergot

Noun

1. a disease of a cereal, such as rye, caused by a fungus

2. the dried fungus used in medicine [French: spur (of a cock)]

---

ergot  (ûrgt)

A fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that infects rye as well as other cereal grasses fed to livestock. Ergot forms sclerotia (masses of hyphae) that replace individual seeds in the spike of the infected plant and contain a complex mixture of alkaloids, several of which are medicinally important. Ergot is the basic source of ergotamine and lysergic acid. Ingestion of infected rye produces convulsions, hallucinations, and severe vasoconstriction that can lead to gangrene. Ergot poisoning may have been responsible for outbreaks of mass hysteria and reports of demonic visions in medieval Europe.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	ergot - a plant disease caused by the ergot fungus plant disease - a disease that affects plants
	2.	ergot - a fungus that infects various cereal plants forming compact black masses of branching filaments that replace many grains of the plant; source of medicinally important alkaloids and of lysergic acid Claviceps purpurea Claviceps, genus Claviceps - fungi parasitic upon the ovaries of various grasses rye ergot - a sclerotium or hardened mass of mycelium fungus - an organism of the kingdom Fungi lacking chlorophyll and feeding on organic matter; ranging from unicellular or multicellular organisms to spore-bearing syncytia