silique

[ suh-leek, sil-ik ]

nounBotany.

the long two-valved seed vessel or pod of plants belonging to the mustard family.

Origin of silique

¹

1400–50; late Middle English selyque, silique (<Middle French silique) <Latin siliqua;see siliqua

Other words from silique

sil·i·qua·ceous [sil-i-kwey-shuhs], /ˌsɪl ɪˈkweɪ ʃəs/, adjective

Words Nearby silique

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use silique in a sentence

Herbs, with a pungent watery juice and cruciform tetradynamous flowers; fruit a silique or silicle.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States | Asa Gray
Pod a short silique or a silicle, varying from oblong-linear to globular, terete or nearly so; valves strongly convex, nerveless.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States | Asa Gray
The Virginian Stock (Malcomia maritima) has a roundish silique, and only one stigma, which ends in a long tapering point.
Botany for Ladies | Jane Loudon
The capsule is very long and narrow, resembling a silique in shape, but broad on the outside, and the leaves are pinnate.
Botany for Ladies | Jane Loudon

Scientific definitions for silique

silique

[ sĭ-lēk′ ]

An elongated dry dehiscent seed pod that is the characteristic fruit of the mustard family. The two sides split off at maturity and leave a central partition to which the seeds are attached.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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