haustorium

Noun

haustorium (plural haustoria)

1. A root of a parasitic plant modified to take nourishment from its host.
   • In the substomatal chamber all the signals that regulate the interaction between fungus and host are present along the entire structure of the rust fungus, from the vesicle to the first haustorium which, in the dikaryotic stage, is the first intracellular structure (Mendgen et al., 1988; Heath...2005, Ming Hao Pei, Alistair R. McCracken, editors, Rust Diseases of Willow and Poplar, CABI, →ISBN, page 170
2. A cellular structure, growing into or around another structure to absorb water or nutrients, such as a cotyledon.