testa

American  

[tes-tuh] / ˈtɛs tə /

noun

Botany.

testae plural

1. the outer, usually hard, integument of a seed.

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testa British  

/ ˈtɛstə /

noun

1. a hard protective outer layer of the seeds of flowering plants; seed coat

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testa Scientific  

/ tĕs′tə /

testae plural

1. See seed coat

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• testae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of testa

First recorded in 1790–1800; from New Latin, Latin; see test ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

testa testae

Cure is a mecca for carnivores; the shareable salumi plate alone comes with no fewer than 17 types of cold meats, including lamb culatello, coppa di testa and duck rillettes.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2015

The testa is far better than it sounds--like a fatty but delicately flavored sausage, topped with a little vinegar salad for bite.

From Time Magazine Archive

The testa of the seed bears no down, and may be divided into two parts.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Thomas, Jerome Beers

The seed of Pinus contains an embryo, with the cotyledons clearly defined, embedded in albumen, which is protected by a bony testa with an external membranous spermoderm, produced, in most species, into an effective wing.

From The Genus Pinus by Shaw, George Russell

Pod rhomboidal before maturity, prickly, containing 2 semi-globose seeds with testa hard, mottled and tough.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Thomas, Jerome Beers

One point makes the above view more probable in Acropera than in other cases, viz. the presence of rudimentary placentae or testae, for I cannot hear that these have been observed in the male plants.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 by Darwin, Francis, Sir

I have looked at the seeds; I never saw in the British orchids nearly so many empty testae; but this goes for nothing, as unnatural conditions would account for it.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 by Darwin, Francis, Sir