† nuculaniumn.
Botany. Obsolete.
1. A fleshy fruit containing several stony seeds; spec. (J. Lindley's term for) a type of berry formed from a superior ovary.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > [noun] > nuculanium and parts
nuculanium1819
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > [noun] > fruit by constitution
nuculanium1819
achene1825
achaenocarp1874
1819 J. Lindley tr. L.-C. Richard Observ. Struct. Fruits & Seeds 86 Nuculanium; fruit whose fleshy pericarp forms several distinct nuts.
1829 P. Clinton tr. A. Richard New Elem. Bot. (ed. 4) 430 The nuculanium is a fleshy fruit proceeding from a free ovary,..containing within it several small nuts, which bear the name nuculæ.
1832 J. Lindley Introd. Bot. i. ii. 178 Nuculanium... Two or more celled, few or many-seeded, superior, indehiscent, fleshy.., containing several seeds, improperly called nucules by the younger Richard..Examples. Grape, Achras.
1857 A. Henfrey Elem. Course Bot. 145 The Bacca, or true berry, differs from the nuculanium only in being inferior, so that it is crowned by the withered teeth of the calyx.
1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms 171/2 Nuculanium, Richard's term for a drupaceous or baccate fruit containing more than one stone or seed, adopted by Lindley for a superior stony-seeded berry.]
2. A fruit with a stony inner portion. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > [noun] > nuculanium and parts > nut or seed of
nucule1819
nuculanium1849
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. 264 The covering of the cells [of the endocarp] is sometimes stony, as in the Medlar..and the Holly, forming what has been called a Nuculanium (nucula, a nut).
1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 152/2 Some apply the term nuculanium to the Medlar.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
<
n.1819