columella

American  

[kol-yuh-mel-uh] / ˌkɒl yəˈmɛl ə /

noun

Biology.

plural

columellae

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

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

Etymology

Origin of columella

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

Example Sentences

Shell ovoid, with short spire, wide aperture and folded columella; inferior pallial lobe thick; visceral commissure still twisted.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various

Mitre, with the epidermis marbled with brownish-yellow; volutions at their base black; columella five-plaited.

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

Shell with clouded purple longitudinal stripes; spire lengthened; inner lip chesnut-black; columella thickened, gibbous; base entire.

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

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 Gray, Asa

The pro�tic encloses between it and the lateral occipital the fenestra ovalis, into which fits the columella of the ear.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various