sepal
one of the individual leaves or parts of the calyx of a flower.
Origin of sepal
1Other words from sepal
- sepaled, sepalled, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use sepal in a sentence
The calyx is composed of five sepals, the corolla of four or five lobes, and the stamens are attached to the corolla.
The Sea Shore | William S. FurneauxThe flowers are mostly small and white, with five sepals (when present), five petals, and five stamens.
The Sea Shore | William S. FurneauxIt has a creeping woody rootstock, and a rough angular stem; and the petals are generally but little longer than the sepals.
The Sea Shore | William S. FurneauxPolysepalous, pol-i-sep′a-lus, adj. having the sepals separate from each other.
Petals veined, sepals dotted, with crimson—the underside of both heavily stained.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle
British Dictionary definitions for sepal
/ (ˈsɛpəl) /
any of the separate parts of the calyx of a flower
Origin of sepal
1Derived forms of sepal
- sepalled or sepalous (ˈsɛpələs), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for sepal
[ sē′pəl ]
One of the usually separate, green parts that surround and protect the flower bud and extend from the base of a flower after it has opened. Sepals tend to occur in the same number as the petals and to be centered over the petal divisions. In some species sepals are colored like petals, and they can even be indistinguishable from petals, as in the lilies (in what are called tepals). In some groups, such as the poppies, the sepals fall off after the flower bud opens. See more at flower.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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