calyptra

[ kuh-lip-truh ]

nounBotany.

Also called cap. a hood or hoodlike part, as the lid of the capsule in mosses.
a root cap.

Origin of calyptra

1745–55; <New Latin <Greek kalýptra veil, covering, equivalent to kalýp(tein) to veil, cover + -tra noun suffix

Other words from calyptra

ca·lyp·trate [kuh-lip-treyt], /kəˈlɪp treɪt/, adjective

Words Nearby calyptra

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use calyptra in a sentence

The calyptra is half-cleft, and the lid conical and shortly beaked.
An Elementary Text-book of the Microscope | John William Griffith
The calyptra (fig. 24) is half-cleft (dimidiate) and very hairy.
An Elementary Text-book of the Microscope | John William Griffith
In calyptra Equestris, it has two prominent points, and is described as bi-furcated (fig. 18).
A Conchological Manual | George Brettingham Sowerby
The calyptra may be known from Crepidula by the septum, which in the latter is a flat plate reaching half way across the cavity.
A Conchological Manual | George Brettingham Sowerby
Involucral leaves coalescent into an oblong truncate hairy tube, blended in our species with the calyptra; perianth none.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States | Asa Gray

British Dictionary definitions for calyptra

calyptra

/ (kəˈlɪptrə) /

nounbotany

a membranous hood covering the spore-bearing capsule of mosses and liverworts
any hoodlike structure, such as a root cap

Origin of calyptra

C18: from New Latin, from Greek kaluptra hood, from kaluptein to cover

Derived forms of calyptra

calyptrate (kəˈlɪpˌtreɪt), 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 calyptra

calyptra

[ kə-lĭp′trə ]

In some bryophyte plants, a structure that covers the young sporophyte as it develops within the tissues of its gametophyte parent. The calyptra, which consists of a thickening of the archegonium walls, eventually breaks open as the spore capsule grows.

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