silique

[suh-leek, sil-ik]

noun Botany.

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

Origin of silique

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

Related formssil·i·qua·ceous

[sil-i-kwey-shuh s] /ˌsɪl ɪˈkweɪ ʃəs/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for silique

Historical Examples of silique

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
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

silique in Science

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.