spiculen.
/ˈspɪkjuːl/, /ˈspʌɪkjuːl/, U.S. /ˈspɪˌkjul/ 1. Botany.
a. A floral spikelet (cf. spicula n. 3).
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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > inflorescence or collective flower > [noun] > of particular type, shape, or arrangement > spike
spike1578
torch1578
spica1693
spicula1760
spicule1785
spire1850
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xiii. 142 Spiculæ triangular. [Note] These are the little assemblages of flowers, or ultimate subdivisions of the panicle or whole.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xiii. 143 The spicules are ovate, and on short foot-stalks.
b. (See quot. 1854.)
ΚΠ
1854 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. I. 5 Spicules, two little wing-like pieces often seen at the base of the leafstalk, as in the Rose.
2. One or other of the points of the basidia or sporophores in fungals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > fungi > [noun] > parts of > reproductive parts
capsule1693
perithecium1800
aecidium1821
hymenium1830
pseudoperidium1832
pseudoperithecium1832
disc1842
trichidium1842
spicule1843
sporophore1849
stylospore1851
pycnide1856
cyst1857
pycnidium1857
basidium1858
cystidium1858
basidiospore1859
conidium1861
pollinarium1861
gonosphere1865
hymenophorum1866
spicula1866
teleutospore1866
promycelium1867
gonosphaerium1873
hymenophore1874
paracyst1874
sterigma1874
pollinodium1875
scolecite1875
uredospore1875
metuloid1879
operculum1879
uredo1879
aecidiospore1880
pycnidiospore1880
uredo-fruit1882
chlamydospore1884
teleutosorus1884
fruitcake1885
ascocarp1887
periplasm1887
pycnospore1887
pyrenocarp1887
macrostylospore1894
autobasidium1895
oidium1895
zygophore1904
aeciospore1905
aecium1905
pycniospore1905
teliospore1905
telium1905
uredinium1905
uredosorus1905
fruit-body1912
sporodochium1913
probasidium1916
fruiting body1918
pycnium1926
holobasidium1928
protoperithecium1937
uredium1937
1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 183/1 The hymenium [of Exidia glandulosa] is covered with spicules.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1088/2 In such Fungi as agarics the sporophores..bear generally four little points called spicules,..on which the spores are seated. In Tremella the sporophores are globular or quadripartite, the spicules being drawn out into long threads.
1875 M. C. Cooke Fungi 22 With which also their structure agrees, excepting in the development of spicules.
3. In sponges: = spiculum n. 3.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Parazoa > phylum Porifera > [noun] > member of > parts of > sponge spicule
spiculum1842
spicula1845
spicule1846
needle1870
1846 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Zoophytes 645 The cortex..shows numerous minute granules or spicules of lime, disseminated through it.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) xiv. 616 (note) A considerable number of silicious spicules of sponges.
1885 J. E. Taylor Our Common Brit. Fossils i. 9 When alive the outer layer of ‘sponge-flesh’ is usually permeated with myriads of exceedingly small solid bodies, called fibres and spicules.
4. Zoology. A needle-like or sharp-pointed process or part.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > [noun] > slender or pointed part > sharp
spiculum1762
spicule1861
1861 J. R. Greene Man. Animal Kingdom II. 160 In some species of Alcyonidæ proper, the spicules attain a comparatively large size.
1872 H. A. Nicholson Man. Palæontol. 66 All the Radiolaria possess hard structures in the form of siliceous spicules or a siliceous test.
1890 Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip 26 198 The ovate individuals..showed the mouth or osculum fringed with spicules standing erect.
5. A fine-pointed piece, splinter, or fragment of some hard substance; a spicula or spiculum.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > fact or condition of tapering > condition of tapering to a point > [noun] > pointed object or part > pointed piece or fragment
spicule1835
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a fragment > pointed
spicule1878
1835 J. Paget Let. 16 Apr. in S. Paget Mem. & Lett. Sir J. Paget (1901) 57 The same appearances have been noticed in our dissecting-rooms, where they have been attributed to the deposition of small spicules of bone (which, indeed, they somewhat resemble).
1865 Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle N.-W. Passage by Land xv. 301 The fallen timber lay as thickly and entangled as the spiculæ in the children's game of spelicans.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 62 A nucleus from which six little spicules or rods of ice are shot forth.
1879 R. N. Khory Digest Med. 37 Under the microscope granular matter, and spheres with spicules sticking on them, are seen.
1895 W. J. Hoffman Beginnings of Writing 37 A small bundle of needles, spicules of bone, or fish spines.
6. Astronomy. Any of numerous short-lived, relatively small radial jets of gas observed to occur in the sun's atmosphere in the chromosphere and lower corona.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > [noun] > chromosphere > spicule
jet1871
spicule1945
macrospicule1975
1945 W. O. Roberts in Astrophysical Jrnl. CI. 136 Small spikes of chromospheric material, observed in Hα with the coronagraph and quartz-polaroid monochromator are described. These spicules, seen in polar regions of the sun, have very brief lifetimes, amounting on the average to 4 or 5 minutes.
1948 Astrophysical Jrnl. 108 130 An interpretation of the chromospheric spicules as a system of superthermic jets is presented.
1974 Bray & Loughhead Solar Chromosphere ii. 60 Spicules in the polar regions of the sun tend to follow the direction of the overlying coronal rays.
1978 J. M. Pasachoff & M. L. Kutner University Astron. viii. 191 Spicules are best seen when we are looking off the edge of the sun, beyond the limb.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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