Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

plumule

American  
[ploom-yool] / ˈplum jul /

noun

  1. Botany. the bud of the ascending axis of a plant while still in the embryo.

  2. Ornithology. a down feather.


plumule British  
/ ˈpluːmjuːl /

noun

  1. the embryonic shoot of seed-bearing plants

  2. a down feather of young birds that persists in some adults

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

plumule Scientific  
/ plo̅o̅myo̅o̅l /
  1. The young shoot of a plant embryo, situated above the cotyledons and consisting of the epicotyl and often of immature leaves.

  2. See more at germination


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of plumule

1720–30; < New Latin, Latin plūmula. See plume, -ule

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:

Embryo like that of Nymphæa on a large scale; cotyledons thick and fleshy, enclosing a plumule of 1 or 2 well-formed young leaves, enclosed in a delicate stipule-like sheath.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Embryo thick and fleshy, "with a large concealed cavity at the summit, the plumule curved in a groove on the outside."

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Cotyledons very thick and fleshy, their contiguous faces coherent, remaining under ground in germination; plumule 2-leaved; radicle curved.—Trees or shrubs.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Finally the plumule escapes, its leaves successively breaking through at the tip of the germ-sheath.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

The part bearing the tiny leaves was formerly, and is sometimes now, called the plumule, but is generally called the epicotyl, because it grows above or upon the cotyledons.

From The First Book of Farming by Charles Landon Goodrich

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training