Geoglossum

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of black, club-shaped ascomycete fungi that grow on the ground in damp grassland and are commonly called earth tongues
2. A group of dark, tongue-like fungi belonging to the earth tongue family that sprout from soil in moist meadows and woodland clearings
3. Fungi of a distinct genus with slender, dark, club-shaped fruiting bodies that rise from the ground and are known as earth tongues

Etymology: Geoglossum is the name of a genus of small, dark, club-shaped fungi that grow in grassland and bog, and its name is a straightforward Greek compound: "geo" from "gē", meaning earth, and "glossa", meaning tongue. The fruiting bodies, which look like black tongues or fingers thrust up through the turf, explain the choice. The name was given by the Swedish-born mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in the nineteenth century, when he was classifying fungi systematically, so it is a scientific coinage rather than an ancient word.