Ergot

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Ergot is pronounced ur-git, '''not''' er-go. Highly toxic, it ought not be consumed. Properly modified, it has many uses, primarily due to fortuitous similarity between the ergoline skeleton and the monoamide neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline)...

* '''Ergot''': fungi of the genus Claviceps. All Claviceps species are ergot. The most well-known member is Claviceps purpurea (Latin ''purpuro'', purple, "to adorn/beautify"), the rye ergot fungus, which is parasitic on grasses and cereals (especially rye).

* '''Ergot''': fungi of the genus Claviceps. All Claviceps species are ergot. The most well-known member is Claviceps purpurea (Latin ''purpuro'', purple, "to adorn/beautify"), the rye ergot fungus, which is parasitic on grasses and cereals (especially rye, Secale cereale).

** A Claviceps spore infects a flowering grass or cereal's floret. Upon connection to the vascular bundle, soft white sphacelia tissue develops. This hardens and dries into a sclerotium in the destroyed floret's husk.

** Alkaloids and lipids accumulate in the sclerotium. Dry, mature claviceps purpurea sclerotium consist of about 2% ergot alkaloids by weight. Claviceps africana also contains substantial alkaloids.

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 Ergot is pronounced ur-git, '''not''' er-go. Highly toxic, it ought not be consumed. Properly modified, it has many uses, primarily due to fortuitous similarity between the ergoline skeleton and the monoamide neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline)...
-* '''Ergot''': fungi of the genus Claviceps. All Claviceps species are ergot. The most well-known member is Claviceps purpurea (Latin ''purpuro'', purple, "to adorn/beautify"), the rye ergot fungus, which is parasitic on grasses and cereals (especially rye).
+* '''Ergot''': fungi of the genus Claviceps. All Claviceps species are ergot. The most well-known member is Claviceps purpurea (Latin ''purpuro'', purple, "to adorn/beautify"), the rye ergot fungus, which is parasitic on grasses and cereals (especially rye, Secale cereale).
 ** A Claviceps spore infects a flowering grass or cereal's floret. Upon connection to the vascular bundle, soft white sphacelia tissue develops. This hardens and dries into a sclerotium in the destroyed floret's husk.
 ** Alkaloids and lipids accumulate in the sclerotium. Dry, mature claviceps purpurea sclerotium consist of about 2% ergot alkaloids by weight. Claviceps africana also contains substantial alkaloids.