A plant disease caused by fungi of the genus Gloeosporium, which infects fruits and leaves.
From Gloeosporium (Greek gloios 'sticky' + spore 'seed') plus -ose, a suffix indicating disease. The fungus produces sticky spores that spread the infection.
This fungus was so damaging to apple orchards in the 1800s that it nearly destroyed entire regional crops before farmers developed spray treatments—it's one reason we started using fungicides on commercial fruit.
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