massulan.

1856 J. S. Henslow Dict. Bot. (ed. 2) 105 Massula (a little lump), one of the smaller fragments which..compose the pollen mass in Orchidaceæ.

1895 S. H. Vines Students' Text-bk. Bot. II. iii. 564 The pollinium may consist..of larger groups of cells, termed massulæ (e.g. Orchis).

1959 M. Wirth & C. L. Withner in C. L. Withner Orchids v. 157 In some genera, such as Peristylus, there is a variation on the normal mode of development. All the cells resulting from the divisions of an archesporial cell remain attached to each other, eventually forming a small cluster of tetrads known as a massula.

1984 European Garden Flora II. 144/2 In a few others they [sc. pollinia] are each made up of several to many individual packets (known technically as massulae) which separate very easily from each other.

1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) ii. 454 In the microsporangia [of Azolla] the mucilage looks like a large-celled tissue, and forms from two to eight separate clumps (Massulæ), each of which encloses a number of microspores. In some species..these massulæ have their surfaces covered with hair-like appendages.

1938 G. M. Smith Cryptogamic Bot. II. ix. 358 The functional macrospore lies in the large massula at the base of a sporangium.

1965 P. Bell & D. Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. (new ed.) 582 Azolla is of interest for the arrangements which ensure fertilization. After liberation from the microsporangium the sixty-four microspores are aggregated into 5–8 roundish floating balls (massulae) formed of the frothy periplasmodium.

1997 D. J. Mabberley Plant-bk. (ed. 2) 635 Salviniaceae..microspores lie on surface of a frothy massula, the male prothalli projecting all round after germination.