circumscissile

American  

[sur-kuhm-sis-il] / ˌsɜr kəmˈsɪs ɪl /

adjective

Botany.

1. opening along a transverse circular line, as a seed vessel.

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circumscissile British  

/ ˌsɜːkəmˈsɪsaɪl /

adjective

1. (of the dry dehiscent fruits of certain plants) opening completely by a transverse split

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Etymology

Origin of circumscissile

First recorded in 1825–35; circum- + scissile

Example Sentences

Capsule membranaceous, circumscissile, the top falling off like a lid, many-seeded.—Low, spreading or procumbent herbs, mostly annuals, with opposite or whorled entire leaves, and solitary flowers on axillary peduncles.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

The volva is circumscissile, the margin of the bulb not being clear cut and prominent, because there is much refuse matter and soil interwoven with the lower portion of the volva.

From Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. by Atkinson, George Francis

The pileus is hemispherical to convex, and expanded, smooth, whitish, with a tinge of straw color, and covered with torn, thin floccose patches of the upper half of the circumscissile volva.

From Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. by Atkinson, George Francis

Leaves as in the last, but paler and thinner; spikes long and thin, attenuate at the apex; sepals oblong, acutely carinate; capsules cylindraceous-oblong, circumscissile much below the middle, 4–9-seeded; seeds oval-oblong, not reticulated.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Nothing similar appears in the gray specimens of the present form, although the dehiscence is quite as certainly circumscissile.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)