(Fr. ergot; a cock's spur), a disease caused in rye and some other grasses by the attack of a fungus called Ergotia abortans, which induces a morbid condition in the ovarian cells. See Botany, vol. v., p. 172. Rye thus affected is highly poisonous, and has sometimes caused death by a kind of mortification called dry gangrene. Ergot is a valuable agent employed in obstetric practice for promoting the contraction of the uterus.

ERICACEÆ, the heath order of plants. See Botany, Nat. Ord. 131.