Rhizomorphan.

1802 R. Relhan Flora Cantabrigiensis (rev. ed.) 546 Horse-hair Rhizomorpha... Wisbeach; in Mr. Peckover's Wine-cellar on a Sack of Sawdust.

1840 Gardener's Mag. New Ser. 6 173 Like many of the fungi, the rhizomorphas affix themselves to organic matters undergoing decomposition, rather than to organised beings in a living state.

1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 476/1 Rhizomorpha, a singular genus of fungi, having altogether the appearance of a tree. The species are found in damp cellars, old walls, mines and other subterranean places.

1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 39 The genus Rhizomorpha (which it may be observed is a spurious genus, consisting of imperfectly developed Sphæriæ, Polypori, etc.) vegetates in dark mines far from the light of day.

1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 191/2 The rhizomorpha—a curious organism resembling long, thin, dark-colored roots, sometimes expanding into a membraniform production.

1903 Trans. & Proc. Perthshire Soc. Nat. Sci. 3 179 These creeping strands were formerly known under the name of ‘Rhizomorpha’, and believed to be an independent fungus until Agaricus melleus was discovered to be its fructification.

1909 A. F. M. Johnson Text-bk.Bot. for Students v. 289 Some species of Agaricus which are parasitic, usually on the Pine, produce structures which look like the roots of Flowering Plants. These ‘rhizomorphæ’ are formed of densely interwoven hyphae.