Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A down feather.
- noun The young shoot of a plant embryo above the cotyledons, consisting of the epicotyl and often of immature leaves.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ornithology, a down-feather; a feather of plumulaceous structure throughout.
- noun In entomology: A little plume-like organ or ornament.
- noun One of the peculiar obcordate scales found on the wings of certain lepidopterous insects, as Pieridæ.
- noun The bud of the ascending axis of a plant while still in the embryo, situated at the apex of the caulicle (or radicle), above the base of the cotyledon or cotyledons, and inclosed by them when there are two or more.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See
Illust. ofradicle . - noun A down feather.
- noun The aftershaft of a feather. See
Illust. underFeather . - noun One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun botany The first
bud , orgemmule , of a youngplant ; the bud, or growing point, of theembryo , above thecotyledons . - noun zoology A down
feather . - noun zoology The
aftershaft of a feather. - noun zoology One of the featherlike
scales of certain malebutterflies .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun down feather of young birds; persists in some adult birds
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word plumule.
Examples
-
The part bearing the tiny leaves was formerly, and is sometimes now, called the plumule, but is generally called the epicotyl, because it grows above or upon the cotyledons.
-
For our "plumule" we have also "gemmule", and French has both of these too.
-
The word "plumule" struck me; it turns out it's pronounced PLOOM-yule /"plu:myu:l/, and it means 'rudimentary shoot, bud, or bunch of undeveloped leaves in a seed' (it's from Latin plūmula, the diminutive of plūma 'small soft feather, down'), so that "shoots and plumules of one's experience" is a very tasty phrase, incorporating both the visible (as it were) and the embryonic shoots sprouting up from the depths of our lived lives and mulish memories.
-
Yet she insistently wanted to drop this one directly into nutrient soil, watch the epicotyl lengthen, smile proudly at the upward thrusting plumule, then fuss over stipule and first foliage.
-
For some reason, I still maintain the awestruck wonder of a kinder planting beans pressed against the side of a jar so that the roots, hypocotyl, and plumule display, then watch in amazement as they burst through the ground and struggle toward the light.
-
Thus the main divisions of flowering plants are founded on differences in the embryo,- on the number and position of the cotyledons, and on the mode of development of the plumule and radicle.
-
Sorghum, maize or millet grains or combinations are malted by soaking in water for one or two days, draining and allowing the seed to germinate for five to seven days until it has a distinct plumule.
-
The infrequency of turning the germinating grain benefits the growth of the roots and the development of the plumule, besides saving much labor.
-
In germination the two fleshy cotyledons of the Gingkgo remain within the shell, leaving the three-sided plumule to pass upward; the young stem bears its leaves in threes.
-
The sheath which envelopes the radicle is called = coleorhiza = and that of the plumule, = pileole = or = germ-sheath =.
fbharjo commented on the word plumule
the up of down
August 25, 2009