caryopsis

American  

[kar-ee-op-sis] / ˌkær iˈɒp sɪs /

noun

Botany.

caryopses, plural caryopsides plural

1. a small, one-celled, one-seeded, dry indehiscent fruit with the pericarp adherent to the seed coat, the typical fruit of grasses and grains.

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caryopsis British  

/ ˌkærɪˈɒpsɪs /

noun

1. a dry seedlike fruit having the pericarp fused to the seed coat of the single seed: produced by the grasses

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caryopsis Scientific  

/ kăr′ē-ŏp′sĭs /

caryopses plural

1. A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united.

2. Also called grain

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• caryopses
  plural
• caryopsides
  plural

Etymology

Origin of caryopsis

First recorded in 1820–30; cary(o)- + -opsis

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caryopsis caryopsides

Fruit oval, flat, with the outer face rather convex and the inner concave, sharp-margined, a caryopsis, i.e. the thin pericarp adherent to the vertical seed.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

As an illustration of the caryopsis, the grain of Andropogon Sorghum may be studied.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.

The caryopsis consists of an embryo on one side at the base and the endosperm occupies the remaining portion.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.

But in some plants the pericarps assume structures which subserve the same purpose; this especially occurs in small pericarps enclosing single seeds, as achenes, caryopsides, &c.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

Related Words

• kernel