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tepal

American

[tee-puhl, tep-uhl] / ˈti pəl, ˈtɛp əl /

noun

Botany.

one of the divisions of a flower perianth, especially one that is not clearly differentiated into petals and sepals, as in lilies and tulips.

tepal British

/ ˈtiːpəl, ˈtɛpəl /

noun

any of the subdivisions of a perianth that is not clearly differentiated into calyx and corolla

"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

tepal Scientific

/ tē′pəl,tĕp′əl /

A division of the perianth of a flower in which the sepals and petals are indistinguishable, as in tulips and lilies.

Etymology

Origin of tepal

< French tépale (1827), alteration of pétale petal, on the model of sépale sepal; coined by Augustin-Pierre de Candolle (1778–1841), Swiss botanist

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

tepal

For example, the corolla in lilies and tulips consists of three sepals and three petals that look virtually identical—this led botanists to coin the word tepal.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023