sepal

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se·pal

(sē′pəl)

One of the usually green leaflike structures composing the outermost part of a flower. Sepals often enclose and protect the bud and may remain after the fruit forms.

[New Latin sepalum, perhaps blend of Greek skepē, covering and Latin petalum, petal; see petal.]

sep′a·line (sĕp′ə-lĭn), sep′a·lous (-ləs) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sepal

(ˈsɛpəl)

(Botany) any of the separate parts of the calyx of a flower

[C19: from New Latin sepalum: sep-, from Greek skepē a covering + -alum, from New Latin petalum petal]

ˈsepalled, sepalous adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

se•pal

(ˈsi pəl)

n.

one of the individual leaves or parts of the calyx of a flower.

[< New Latin sepalum (1790)]

se′paled, se′palled, adj.

se·pal

(sē′pəl)

One of the separate, usually green parts extending from the base of a flower. Sepals look like small leaves, though in some plants they are colored like petals. As a group, they form the calyx, which surrounds and protects the flower bud. In some flowers, such as the poppies, the sepals fall off after the flower bud opens. See more at flower.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

sepal - one of the green parts that form the calyx of a flower

floral leaf - a modified leaf that is part of a flower

calyx - (botany) the whorl of sepals of a flower collectively forming the outer floral envelope or layer of the perianth enclosing and supporting the developing bud; usually green

Translations

σέπαλο

sepalo

sepal

[ˈsepəl] N → sépalo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sepal

n → Kelchblatt nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sepal

[ˈsɛpəl] n → sepalo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

It is familiar to almost every one, that in a flower the relative position of the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils, as well as their intimate structure, are intelligible on the view that they consist of metamorphosed leaves, arranged in a spire.

Why should the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils in any individual flower, though fitted for such widely different purposes, be all constructed on the same pattern?

View in context

The determination of the time of flower opening and closing was performed in periodic visits to the experimental field of Embrapa Agrobiologia, where the exact moments in which the anthesis and the closure of flowers were observed, and the flower was only considered totally open when petals and sepals were definitively positioned, ceasing the opening movement, presenting approximate angulation of 60[degrees] in relation to the base of the flower.

Floral biology and physicochemical characterization of wild passion fruit Passiflora setacea d.C BRS Perola do Cerrado cultivated in the state of Rio de Janeiro/ Biologia floral e caracterizacao fisico-quimica de frutos do maracujazeiro silvestre Passiflora setacea d.C cv. BRS Perola do Cerrado cultivado no estado do Rio de Janeiro

Annual, with simple stems or branched distally; leaves basal, rosetted and early-deciduous, mid-cauline sessile, base auriculated, and distal reduced; inflorescence open, bilateral; flowers with calyx urn-shaped; sepals deep purple, upper (8.5)-8.8-10.2-(10.3) mm wide, broadly ovatecordate forming a banner-like hood; lower sepal (4.5)-4.7-6.1-(6.2) mm wide, broadly ovate, keeled; lateral pair of sepals 2-3.1-(3.2) mm wide lance-ovate; petals (5.5)-6.0-6.5-(7.0) mm long not clearly exerted; pollen reticulate 20-27 [micro]m long, 12-15 [micro]m wide; siliqua pendent, straight, valves glabrous; pedicels strongly recurved; seeds elliptico-ovate, 1.53-2.15 mm long and 0.89-1.11 mm wide, reticulate-foveate, with a prominent wing at the distal apex.

Streptanthus purpureus spec. nova (Cruciferae), an endemic nickel hyperaccumulator from Sierra Nevada (California, USA)/ Streptanthus purpureus spec. nova (Cruciferae), un hiperacumulador de niquel endemico de la Sierra Nevada californiana (California, USA)

The calyx is the first whorl of organs to emerge, with the upper sepal first, followed by the simultaneous emergence of the lower sepals (Fig.

Floral morphology and organogenesis in Tinantia pringlei, along with a review of floral developmental variation in the spiderwort family, Commelinaceae

These flowers contain 5 sepals which are triangular and flat, 5 tiny, separated petals, and 5 stamens.

Pollen and anther development in Ziziphus jujuba L

Dorsal sepal (DS)###52.82b###27.70c###79.64a###0.41a

Analysis of Anthocyanins and the Expression Patterns of Genes Involved in Biosynthesis in two Vanda Hybrids

They also feature a unique bag sepal rating system and are designed for quick change-over to accommodate different bag dimensions in less than 5 minutes.

High speed bagging PTK range

The famous Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus gave the plant the genus name "trillium" (from the Latin prefix "tri," meaning three) because it has three of each of the following: leaf, sepal, flower petal, cells of the ovary, and ribs of the berries.

Red trillium

Staminate flowers light yellow when fresh; sepals 3, ovate, 1 mm long, connate for 1/2 their length, lobes reaching 1/2 to the total height of the corolla tube; petals 3, ovate-acuminate, 4-7 mm long, including a 1 mm long acumen, connate up to 1-1,5 mm (1/6-1/4 of their length); stamens 12-15, 1-3 opposite each sepal and 2-3 opposite each petal, filaments 1-1,5 mm long, anther 2-2,2 mm long, round at apex; pollen elliptical, monosulcate, tectate, 25,65 [+ or -] 1,01 um diam, exine reticulate, exine thickness 0,52 [+ or -] 0,10 um, with reticule aperture 0,75 [+ or -] 0,43 um diam, reticule width 0,48 [+ or -] 0,06 um; pistillode trimerous, minute.

Novedades en el genero Ceroxylon (Arecaceae) del Peru, con la descripcion de una nueva especie

"Vaast Bin--1 } 181: the supplanter / } that I was in this power / coxcomber, in the opening of the forest / a movement--in the arcing beams of starheadlights / serrating the indices of black night / O'd sepal parting struumm'd in tuenns / in the dark milk of axionic piors / the shutter thrusts open / seeping into the eyes of the bin / beings, tongue-trilled- / with all instruments denoted".