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

Etymology

Origin of columella

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

columella columellae

Shell ovoid, with short spire and folded columella; foot small, no operculum; siphon short.

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

Spire of shell prominent, aperture narrow, canal very short, columella crenelated; foot large.

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

In mature specimens the peridium has often entirely disappeared, its only trace, a collar, more or less distinct, around the stipe, marking the beginning of the columella.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

In Comatricha the anastomosing is general, from the columella out, and is not specialized at the surface.

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 MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)

The columella is a long, thin bony rod that terminates posteriorly in cartilage.

From A Revision of Snakes of the Genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America) by Wellman, John

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 Duellman, William E.