Dictionary


er•got



Pronunciation: (ûr'gut, -got), [key]
—n.
1. Plant Pathol.
a. a disease of rye and other cereal grasses, caused by a fungus of the genus Claviceps, esp. C. purpurea, which replaces the affected grain with a long, hard, blackish sclerotial body.
b. the sclerotial body itself.
2. Pharm.the dried sclerotium of C. purpurea, developed on rye plants: used in the production of ergotamine and ergotoxine.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

ergosterolergotamine
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