The plasmodium cycle is the life cycle of the malaria parasite called plasmodium. It takes 10 - 18 days to be complete. The life cycle of all species of human malaria is essentially the same. It comprises of an exogenous sexual phase (sporogony) with multiplication in certain Anopheles mosquitoes and an endogenous asexual phase (schizogony) with multiplication in a host, usually a vertebrate. This last phase includes the development cycle in the red blood cells (erythrocytic schizogony) and the phase taking place in the parenchyma cells of the liver (pre-erythrocytic schizogony).