gamo-
(ˌgæmə-, ˈgæməʊ-)
combining form of Gr. γάµος marriage, used in various mod. scientific terms, as gamoˈmania [mania] (see quot.); gamoˈmorphism [Gr. µορϕ-ή form] (see quot.). Chiefly in adjs. used in Botany, describing plants or organs in which certain specified parts are united together, as gamoˈgastrous [Gr. γαστήρ stomach] (see quot.); gamoˈpetalous [petal], having the petals united; gamoˈphyllous [Gr. ϕύλλον leaf], having the leaves united; ˈgamophyte (see quot.); gamoˈsepalous [sepal], having the sepals united.
| 1876 Balfour in Encycl. Brit. IV. 142/1 The union..may take place by the ovaries alone, while the styles and stigmata remain free, the pistil being then *gamogastrous. 1885 Syd. Soc. Lex., Gamogastrous, a term applied to a pistil in which the ovaries are more or less completely united and the respective styles and stigmata remain free. |
| Ibid., *Gamomania, a form of insanity characterised by strange and extravagant proposals for marriage. |
| 1866 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci. etc. II. 10 *Gamomorphism, that stage of developement of organised beings in which the spermatic and germinal elements are formed, matured, and generated, in preparation for another act of fecundation, as the commencement of a new genetic cycle. |
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 161 Their petals cohere in a long tube of the same nature as that of *gamopetalous Crassulaceae. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. i. iv. 36 The corolla is gamopetalous and irregular. |
| Ibid. i. v. 50 In this instance the perianth is *gamophyllous. 1880 Baker in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 14 The Aloes..are characterized by their gamophyllous perianth. |
| 1889 Gibson Elem. Biol. 132 The term *gamophyte will be employed throughout in preference to oophyte, as taking into account both the male and the female sexual organs. |
| 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 329 The word *gamosepalous has been proposed, but it is not much employed. 1860 Oliver Less. Bot. (1873) 29 The calyx is gamosepalous; that is, composed of coherent sepals. |