A mummified mango (Mangifera indica) fruit affected by an unidentified fungal plant pathogen. |
 A mummified mango (Mangifera indica) fruit affected by an unidentified fungal plant pathogen. |
 Blighted fruits and foliage of noni (Morinda citrifolia) and fruits in various stages of mummification due to infection and disease caused by the plant-pathogenic Stramenopiles, Phytophthora sp. |
 Blighted fruits noni (Morinda citrifolia) undergoing mummification due to infection and disease caused by the plant-pathogenic Stramenopiles, Phytophthora sp. |
A mummy is a dried, shriveled fruit, plant part or organ that is partially or completely replaced with fungal structures, usually as the result of fungal infection and colonization of the fruit.
Etymology. c.1400, "medicine prepared from mummy tissue," from M.L. mumia, from Ar. mumiyah "embalmed body," from Pers. mumiya "asphalt," from mum "wax." Sense of "embalmed body" first recorded in Eng. 1615. Mummy wheat (1842) was said to be cultivated from grains found in mummy-cases.