plumule
noun
Forms plumules
- noun (botany) The first bud, or growing point, of a plant embryo, situated above the cotyledons.
- noun (zoology) A down feather.
- noun (zoology) The aftershaft of a feather.
- noun (zoology) One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin plūmula, diminutive of plūma (“feather”); compare French plumule. By surface analysis, plume + -ule.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See Illust. of Radicle. Gray.
- noun (a) A down feather.
Etymology [L. plumula, dim. of pluma a feather; cf. F. plumule.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “plumule”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details