-lēəm noun
( plural myce·lia -ēə)
Etymology: New Latin, from myc- + Greek hēlos nail, wart, callus + New Latin -ium; perh akin to Greek eilyein to fold — more at voluble
: the mass of interwoven hyphae that forms especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and that in the larger forms (as the mushrooms) forms cobwebby filaments penetrating the substrate but in many smaller fungi (as most parasitic forms) is invisible to the naked eye but ramifies through the substrate or tissues of the host usually producing its spore fruits on the surface ; also : a similar mass of filaments formed by a higher bacterium