A genus of parasitic fungi that infects grains like rye and wheat, producing poisonous ergot alkaloids.
From Latin 'clava' (club) and 'ceps' (head, from 'caput'), named for the club-shaped fruiting bodies these fungi produce on infected grain.
This fungus is historically terrifying—ergot poisoning from infected rye caused 'dancing plagues' in medieval Europe where people literally hallucinated and convulsed, now we suspect LSD-like compounds caused this.
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