Volva

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cup-like or sac-shaped structure at the base of certain fungi that remains as a remnant after the fruiting body emerges from its surrounding tissue
2. A protective and often cup-shaped layer found at the base of specific fungal forms that remains once the fruiting body develops fully
3. A specialized, often sac-like structure at the base of various fungi that persists after the fruiting body has separated from its surrounding material

Etymology: Latin "volva" meant the womb, and also the wrapper or case that enclosed something, such as the sac around a seed or a rolled-up book. Its English descendant borrows the second sense rather than the first. A mushroom's volva is the cup-shaped sheath at the base of the stem, a membrane left over from the universal veil that once enveloped the developing fruiting body. As the cap pushes up and expands, the veil tears, and the remnant stays behind as a sack or ring around the foot of the stalk. Mycologists took the Latin word for an enclosing case and applied it to this specific structure, so the anatomy of the fungus was named by analogy with a container. The word was borrowed directly from Latin, and in English it stays a technical term used in fungal identification, where a volva is one of the features that separates species, especially among the deadly amanitas.

Synonyms: sheath, covering