▪ I. pistil Bot.
(ˈpɪstɪl)
Forms: α. 6–7 pestill, 7 pestle (see pestle). β. 8–9 in L. form pistillum (pl. -a). γ. 8– pistil.
[In sense 1, the same word as pestle, OF. pestel:—L. pistillum. For sense 2, the L. word itself was first used, the place of which a 1750 began to be taken by its Fr. adaptation pistil (pistile Tournefort, 1694, pistil admitted by the Académie, 1762).]
† 1. In early use (in form pestle, pestill), The thick pestle-like spadix of araceous plants. Obs.
| α 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. vi. 320 Of Dragons [Dracunculus]... At the top of the stalke groweth a long hoose or huske, lyke to the hoose or codde of Aron, or Wake Robin, of a greenish colour without, and..the clapper or pestill that groweth vp within the sayde huske. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, Those yellow fringes about the purple Pestill. 1672 J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 70 This Plant is one..with a sheath or Hood like Dragons, but the pestle is of another shape,..having a round Purple Ball on the top of it. |
2. In mod. use, The female organ of a flower, situated (one or more) in the centre, and comprising (in its complete form) the ovary, style, and stigma. β. in L. form pistillum; γ. in form pistil.
| β [1700 Tournefort Inst. Rei Herb. (1719) I. 70 Pistillum appello partem eam, quæ floris centrum inter stamina occupare solet.] 1726 Flower Gard. Displ. Introd., Pistillum, a small Thread or Stamen, with an Apex on the Top of it, growing out of the Seminary Vessels, exactly in the Center of some Flowers. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. v. (1765) 11 The Pistillum is the Female Part of the Flower. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 6 Pistilla numerous,..or united into a single many-celled pistillum. |
| γ [1694 Tournefort Botan. 54 J'appelle pistile cette partie de la fleur qui en occupe ordinairement le centre.] |
| 1749 Stack (tr. from Fr.) in Phil. Trans. XLVI. 50 The Pistil or Embryo of the Fruit..occupies the whole Inside of the Calyx. 1756 Watson ibid. XLIX. 806 It has neither Calyx nor Petal, but consists only of one Stamen and one Pistil. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. i. (1794) 23 This..is called the pistil or pointal. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. i. i. 10 The carpels, taken together, constitute the pistil; they are the fourth and last series of the flower-leaves. |
3. Comb., as pistil-bearing adj.
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 96 Having its male or stamen-bearing flowers borne on long club-shaped spikes, and the pistil⁓bearing ones in round heads. |
▪ II. pistil
obs. f. pestle, var. pistle Obs.