Federici, Fernán; Haseloff, Jim (2021). CIL:38806, Claviceps, Triticum aestivum, fungal cell. In Cell Image Library. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6075/J0QR4W0T

This confocal micrograph shows wheat stigma hairs (blue) infected with ergot fungus (shown in light pink). The stigma hairs are part of the female reproductive organs of the plant. When a pollen grain (released by the male reproductive part) adheres to a stigma, a pollen tube grows and fertilizes the plant's ovule. Ergot is a type of fungus from the genus Claviceps that infects flowering grasses and cereals, including wheat, by mimicking the growth of pollen into the ovary. The fungal hyphae, shown in pink, highlight the path the fungus takes through the stigma hairs to colonise the whole plant flower. The fungus forms a dark, purplish sclerotium (a dense mass of branched hyphae) called an ergot in place of the developing wheat grain. Ergot is highly toxic. If infected plants are eaten it causes ergotism, with symptoms that include spasms, hallucinations, psychosis, itching and gangrene. Ergot poisoning is one of the suggested explanations of bewitchment. In the Middle Ages, monks of the Order of St Anthony were known for treating this condition, and the illness became known as St Anthony's fire.

• 2021

• Federici, Fernán
• Haseloff, Jim

Image B0007810. 2011 Wellcome Image Award winner. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons by-nc-nd 2.0 UK: England & Wales, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/

Relation to intact cell: whole mounted tissue
Item type: recorded image
Imaging mode: confocal microscopy

• Claviceps
• Triticum aestivum

• Fungal cell
• Hyphae
• Sclerotium
• Stigma hairs

• Ergotism
• Fungal infection

• data
• image

• No linguistic content; Not applicable

Samplenumber: 38806

Doi: https://doi.org/10.6075/J0QR4W0T

Source data

• Source Record in the Cell Image Library: https://doi.org/10.7295/W9CIL38806

Other resource

• Wellcome Collection Images: https://wellcomecollection.org/works

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License

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2022-08-12