papilionaceous

American  

[puh-pil-ee-uh-ney-shuhs] / pəˌpɪl i əˈneɪ ʃəs /

adjective

Botany.

1. having an irregular corolla shaped somewhat like a butterfly, as the pea and other leguminous plants.

2. belonging to the family Papilionaceae (Fabaceae), that is often included as part of the Leguminosae.

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Etymology

Origin of papilionaceous

1660–70; < Latin pāpiliōn- (stem of pāpiliō ) butterfly + -aceous

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

papilionaceous

Vexillary, Vexillar, relating to the Vexillum, the standard of a papilionaceous flower, 92.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

The point in the weeping tree is a certain grace of drooping line, such as one enjoys in the drooping racemes of many of the papilionaceous flowers such as Wistaria, Laburnum, and Robinia.

From Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens by Cook, Ernest Thomas

Irregular Flowers may be polypetalous, or nearly so, as in the papilionaceous corolla; but most of them are irregular through coalescence, which often much disguises the numerical symmetry also.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

Orchids, Milkweeds, Kalmia, Iris, and papilionaceous flowers each have their own special contrivances, quite different for each.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

The blossoms, of the papilionaceous or butterfly form, produce a flat pod, shaped like the husk of a broad bean, about four inches long, and of a dark brown colour.

From The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America by Kingston, William Henry Giles