polypore

noun

poly·pore ˈpä-lē-ˌpȯr

plural polypores

: a basidiomycetous fungus (as of the genera Ganoderma, Laetiporus, Polyporus, and Trametes) that has the spore-bearing surface within tubes or pores located on the underside of a usually tough or woody fruiting body and that is found chiefly on trees or decaying wood : pore fungus

Note: The fruiting bodies of most polypores are typically fanlike or shelflike and are commonly called bracket or shelf fungi.

Examples of polypore in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The second type, tucked away in a pouch around his neck, was birch polypores. —

Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 28 Nov. 2023 The Turkey Tail Mushroom, also known as Trametes versicolor or Coriolus versicolor, is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. —

Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 13 Oct. 2022 Rich Life is one of only a handful of small mushroom farming operations to take on the beefsteak polypore. —

Jamie Clarkson, The Enquirer, 26 June 2021

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, genus name, probably borrowed from Greek polýporos "with many passages," from poly- poly- + -poros, adjective derivative of póros "pathway, passage through the skin, pore entry 2"

Note: The genus name was assigned by the French botanist Michel Adanson (1727-1806) in Famille des plantes, deuxieme partie (Paris, 1763), p. 10, following pre-Linnaean introduction by the Italian botanist Pier Antonio Micheli (1679-1737) in Nova plantarum genera (Florence, 1729), pp. 129-31, tabula 70. According to Micheli, "Polyporus dicitur a multis poris, vel a copia multorum foraminulorum, quibus inferiori pilei parte densissime est cribratus" ("The polypore is so called from the many pores, or profusion of small openings, with which the under part of the cap is densely sifted").

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of polypore was in 1835

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