mycorrhiza

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mycorrhiza A close physical association between a fungus and the roots of a plant, from which both fungus and plant appear to benefit; a mycorrhizal root takes up nutrients more efficiently than does an uninfected root. A very wide range of plants can form mycorrhizas of one form or another and some plants (e.g. some orchids and some species of Pinus) appear incapable of normal development in the absence of their mycorrhizal fungi. See also ectomycorrhiza and endomycorrhiza.

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