dioon

[ dahy-oh-on ]

noun

1. any of several Mexican and Central American palmlike plants belonging to the genus Dioon, of the cycad family, having a crown of stiff, pinnate leaves.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dioon¹

< New Latin (1843) < Greek di- di- ¹ + ōión egg; so named because the seeds are borne in pairs

Example Sentences

The thick armour of petiole-bases enveloping the stem is a characteristic Cycadean feature; in Cycas the alternation of scale-leaves and fronds is more clearly shown than in other cycads; in Encephalartos, Dioon, &c., the persistent scale-leaf bases are almost equal in size to those of the foliage-leaves, and there is no regular alternation of zones such as characterizes some species of Cycas.

From Project Gutenberg

In Cycas revoluta and C. circinalis each leaf-like carpel may produce several laterally attached ovules, but in C. Normanbyana the carpel is shorter and the ovules are reduced to two; this latter type brings us nearer to the carpels of Dioon, in which the flower has the form of a cone, and the distal end of the carpels is longer and more leaf-like than in the other genera of the Zamieae, which are characterized by shorter carpels with thick peltate heads bearing two ovules on the morphologically lower surface.

From Project Gutenberg

Dioon, a genus of Cycads, natives of Mexico, where meal is prepared from the starchy seeds.

From Project Gutenberg