SORUS

plural Sori, in botany, brownish or yellowish cluster of spore-producing structures (sporangia) on the lower surfaces of fern leaves. A sorus may be protected during development by a scale or film of tissue called an indusium. In rust and smut fungi, a sorus is a spore mass produced on the leaf of an infected plant. Reproductive structures called sori also occur in various species of marine algae. See also spore.