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

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 Beal, W. J. (William James)

Climbers, chiefly papilionaceous, and llianas, bigger than the biggest boa-constrictor, coiled and writhed round the great gloomy trees which rained their darkness below.

From To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

Standard, the upper petal of a papilionaceous corolla, 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