Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph

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Fungi are placed into particular taxa based on reproductive similarities. Sexual reproduction is the most evolutionarily conserved means of reproduction and thus used to determine evolutional relativity (systematics). Many fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually while others only reproduce asexually. This is particularly true in the group Ascomycota, but it also applies to the Basidiomycota and the former Zygomycota. Even for fungi that reproduce both sexually and asexually, often only one method of reproduction is observable at a specific point in time or under specific environmental conditions. Additionally, fungi typically grow intermixed and sporulate amongst each other. These facts prevented and continue to prevent mycologists from easily correctly linking the various states of the same fungus. As a result, asexually reproducing fungi can be separately named from their sexual counterparts. Initially, (1700's, 1800's, early 1900's) this was by accident in the ignorance of the connections, but such pratices are currently allowed by Article 59 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature in the absence of a mechanism to otherwise label the multitude of asexual morphologies. Mycologists group the names into broad categories;

• Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), often a fruitbody. Teleomorphic refers to something characterized by a teleomorph.
• Anamorph: an asexual reproductive stage (morph), often mold-like. Anamorphic refers to something characterized by an anamorph.
• Holomorph: the entire fungus body (thallus), including all anamorphs and the teleomorph. Holomorphic refers to the "whole fungus".

This system is complicated and often confusing but can be a useful method for plant pathologists trying to identify a pathogen. Fungi that do not produce a teleomorph stage (or in cases in which it has yet to be observed) have sometimes been placed into an artificial phylum, the Deuteromycota, also known as Fungi Imperfecti, simply for convenience.