columella

American  

[kol-yuh-mel-uh] / ˌkɒl jəˈmɛl ə /

noun

Biology.

• columellae
  plural

1. 1. any of various small, columnlike structures of animals or plants; rod or axis.

   2. Mycology. a small central column of sterile tissue within the sporangium of certain fungi, liverworts, and mosses.

2. a small bone in the ear of amphibians, reptiles, and birds.

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columella British  

/ ˌkɒljʊˈmɛlə /

noun

1. biology

   1. the central part of the spore-producing body of some fungi and mosses

   2. any similar columnar structure

2. Also called: columella auris. a small rodlike bone in the middle ear of frogs, reptiles, and birds that transmits sound to the inner ear: homologous to the mammalian stapes

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• columellar
  adjective
• columellate
  adjective
• postcolumellar
  adjective
• pseudocolumellar
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• columellae
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of columella

1575–85; < Latin: small column, equivalent to colum- (variant of column-, stem of columna column ) + -ella -elle

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

columella columellae

Shell white, with broad chesnut bands and lines; spire elongated, thickened; inner lip semi-circular, depressed within; columella truncated, emarginate.

From Zoological Illustrations, Volume II or Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson

In typical forms, the columella branches at the apex only, generally into two strong divisions which then break up irregularly and anastomose in every direction.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by Thomas H. (Thomas Huston) MacBride

Shortly thereafter the anterior arm of the squamosal ossifies, the distal part of the columella appears, and the anterior and lateral parts of the auditory region ossify.

From Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca by William E. Duellman

Thallus without epidermis; capsule with a columella, short-pedicelled or sessile on the thallus.

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 Asa Gray

Capsule depressed, more or less 5-lobed, 5-celled, 5-valved, the sutures not thickened; valves entire; the many-seeded placentæ borne on the summit of the short columella.

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 Asa Gray

The delicate, spindle-shaped columellae lie ventral to the tegmen tympani and squamosals, are spatulate distally, and have a broad basal attachment to the auditory region.

From Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca by William E. Duellman

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