any of numerous needle-shaped crystals, usually of calcium oxalate, that occur in many plant cells as a metabolic product
Word origin
C18: from French, from Greek rhaphis needle
raphides in American English
(ˈræfɪˌdiz)
plural noun
Botany
acicular crystals, usually composed of calcium oxalate, that occur in bundles in the cells of many plants
Word origin
[1835–45; ‹ NL ‹ Gk rhaphídes, pl. of rhaphís needle]This word is first recorded in the period 1835–45. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: catch-up, grandstand, protein, serial, squeegee
Examples of 'raphides' in a sentence
raphides
Raphides alone or cysteine protease alone showed only weak defensive activities around experimental concentrations.
Kotaro Konno, Takashi A. Inoue, Masatoshi Nakamura 2014, 'Synergistic Defensive Function of Raphides and Protease through the Needle Effect',PLoS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0091341. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The idioblasts with raphides occur mainly in tepals tissue.
Emilia Święczkowska, Agnieszka K. Kowalkowska 2015, 'Floral Nectary Anatomy and Ultrastructure in Mycoheterotrophic Plant, Epipogium aphyllumSw. (Orchidaceae)', The Scientific World Journalhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/201702. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The most common crystalline forms were raphides, prisms and druses.
Estela Sandoval-Zapotitla, Teresa Terrazas, José Luís Villaseñor 2010, 'Diversidad de inclusiones minerales en la subtribu Oncidiinae (Orchidaceae)', Revista de Biología Tropicalhttp://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442010000200016. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
In this zone, cells containing raphides and xylem elements were observed.
Elżbieta Weryszko-Chmielewska, Thomas Sawidis, Krystyna Piotrowska 2012, 'Anatomy and ultrastructure of floral nectaries of Asphodelus aestivus Brot. (Asphodelaceae)',Acta Agrobotanicahttps://pbsociety.org.pl/journals/index.php/aa/article/view/1842. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The present study provides the first clear experimental evidence for the synergism between raphides and other defensive factors.
Kotaro Konno, Takashi A Inoue, Masatoshi Nakamura 2014, 'Synergistic defensive function of raphides and protease through the needle effect.',PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3951349?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Two forms of calcium oxalate crystals, namely crystal sand and raphides, are observed in this species.
Vera Lucia P. dos Santos, Vijayasankar Raman, Vanessa B. Bobek, Izabel P. Migacz,Célia Regina C. Franco, Ikhlas A. Khan, Jane M. Budel 2018, 'Anatomy and microscopy of Piper caldense, a folk medicinal plant from Brazil', Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosiahttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0102695X17305951. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)