The plant pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is capable of surviving for long periods of time in a quiescent state via the production of a sclerotium. This sclerotium is a mass of vegetative cells surrounded by a black (melanized) rind layer. Under appropriate conditions the sclerotium will germinate and produce one or several fruiting bodies (they look a bit like golf tees); these fruiting bodies are apothecia. In the course of my research investigating the regulation of fruiting body development, I discovered that the fruiting body can be manipulated to undergo a re-development process. That is, a single terminally differentiated fruiting body can be reprogrammed to initiate multiple new fruiting bodies. This is depicted in the photograph with each primary fruiting body arising from the sclerotium giving rise to several new fruiting bodies. Reminds me of the mythical hydra, thus, we have the ‘hydra-thecium.’