blue mold

noun

1. : a fungus of the genus Penicillium; especially : a mold that produces blue or blue-green surface growths on bread and other foods — compare green mold

2. also blue mold rot : a plant disease caused by a blue-mold fungus

3. : a serious fungous disease of tobacco seedlings caused by a fungus (Peronospora tabacina) and characterized by yellowish spots and a bluish gray mildew on the underside of the leaves — called also downy mildew

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1. Also called green mold. any fungus of the genus Penicillium, which forms a bluish-green, furry coating on foodstuffs inoculated by its spores.

2. Plant Pathol.

a. a disease of plants, characterized by necrosis of leaves or fruit and the growth of bluish or grayish mold on affected parts, caused by any of several fungi, as of the genus Penicillium or Peronospora tabacina.

b. See downy mildew (def. 2).

[1655-65]

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blue mold,

any one of various bluish or greenish molds, usually of the same genus as that which yields penicillin. Bluish molds occur on bread and greenish molds in cheese.

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n. a bluish fungus that grows on food. Blue molds are deliberately introduced into some cheeses, and some kinds are used to produce antibiotics such as penicillin. ● Penicillium and other genera, phylum Ascomycota