Pl. flocci. [Lat. floccus FLOCK sb.2] Something resembling a flock of wool. a. Bot. A tuft of woolly hairs; also pl. the hyphæ, or thread-like cells, which form the mycelium of a fungus. b. Zool. (see quot. 1842). c. ‘A tuft of feathers on the head of young birds’ (Webster, 1890). d. ‘The down of unfledged birds’ (Worcester, 1889).
1842. Brande, Dict. Sc. Lit. & Art, Flocci. In Botany, the woolly filaments that are found mixed with the sporules of many Gastromyci. Ibid., Floccus. In Mammalogy, the tuft of long flaccid hairs which terminate the tail.
1874. M. Cooke, Fungi (1875), ii. 44. In elucidation of the structure of the flocci in a number of species.
