peloria

[puh-lawr-ee-uh, -lohr-]

noun

Botany.

1. regularity of structure occurring abnormally in flowers normally irregular.

peloria

/ -ˈlɒ-, pɛˈlɔːrɪə, pɛˈlɔːrɪk /

noun

1. the abnormal production of actinomorphic flowers in a plant of a species that usually produces zygomorphic flowers

Other Word Forms

• peloric adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of peloria¹

1855–60; < New Latin < Greek pélōr ( os ) monstrous ( pélōr monster + -os adj. suffix) + -ia -ia

Word History and Origins

Origin of peloria¹

C19: via New Latin from Greek pelōros, from pelōr monster

Example Sentences

He named the plant Peloria, after the Greek word for 'monster'.

Read more on Nature

Peloria, pē-lō′ri-a, n. the appearance of regularity in flowers normally irregular—also Pel′orism.—adjs.

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Peloria, an abnormal return to regularity and symmetry in an irregular flower; commonest in Snapdragon.

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In Thessaly the peloria were a festival, the name of which was derived from Pelor, the man that brought news that an earthquake had drained the valley of Tempe.

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When an habitually irregular flower becomes regular, it does so in one of two ways; either by the non-development of the irregular portions, or by the formation of irregular parts in increased number, so that the symmetry of the flower is rendered perfect, as in the original peloria of Linnæus, and which may be called irregular peloria, while the former case may be called regular peloria.

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