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papilionaceous

American  
[puh-pil-ee-uh-nay-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.


Etymology

Origin of papilionaceous

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


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Standard, the upper petal of a papilionaceous corolla, 92.

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

In some cases, as in papilionaceous flowers, the stamens cohere, having been originally separate, but in most cases each bundle is produced by the branching of a single stamen.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various

Trees or Shrubs with papilionaceous corolla; as the laburnum.

From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by William MacGillivray

Jerusalem oak, 125Jimson weed, 155Juncaceae, 118June grass, 116 Keel, the joined pair of petals in a papilionaceous corolla; a projecting ridge along the back of an organ.

From Seeds of Michigan Weeds Bulletin 260, Michigan State Agricultural College Experiment Station, Division of Botany, March, 1910 by W. J. (William James) Beal

Flowers.—Magenta-colored; solitary; sessile; seven to nine lines long; papilionaceous.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Mary Elizabeth Parsons

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