cupule

[ kyoo-pyool ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Botany.
1. a cup-shaped whorl of hardened, cohering bracts, as in the acorn.
2. a cup-shaped outgrowth of the thallus of certain liverworts.
3. the apothecium of a cup fungus.
Zoology. a small cup-shaped sucker or similar organ or part.

cupule

/ ˈkjuːpjuːl /

biology a cup-shaped part or structure, such as the cup around the base of an acorn

Origin of cupule¹

1820–30; < New Latin cūpula, Late Latin: small tub; cupola

Origin of cupule¹

C19: from Late Latin cūpula; see cupola

Among the specimens of the last class, one sort, the cupule, is extremely widespread.

Bracts forming a fleshy or hard cupule which envelops the one to several fruits.

The latter are in clusters of a few only, and each separate flower is enclosed in a cupule of overlapping scales.

In the Chestnut the cupule forms the bur; in the Hazel, a leafy husk.

Here the involucre, in the form of a cup at the base, is called the Cupule.

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