Fruiting body

From Freepedia

In fungi, the fruiting body (also known as sporocarp) is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruiting body is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cycle, with the rest of the life cycle being characterized by vegetative mycelial growth. Fruiting bodies that are visible to the naked eye, especially fruiting bodies a more or less agaricoid morphology, are often referred to as mushrooms.

Multicellular spore-producing structures on fungus-like organisms, such as slime molds, and some colonial bacteria, such as the myxobacteria, are also called "fruiting bodies".