The female reproductive organ in ascomycete fungi that contains the egg cell and receives genetic material from the male structure to produce spores.
From New Latin, combining Greek askos (wineskin, bladder, referring to the ascus spore case) + gonion (reproductive organ). The term was created in the 1800s as mycologists discovered sexual reproduction in fungi.
The ascogonium is like a fungal ovary, and scientists were amazed to discover that fungi had gender centuries before anyone could see cells under a microscope—they just had to invent the word to prove it!
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