tepal Bot.
(ˈtɛpəl, ˈtiːpəl)
[ad. F. tépale (A. P. de Candolle Organographie Végétale (1827) I. iii. ii. 503): see quot. 1840.]
A segment of a perianth which is not divided into a corolla and a calyx.
| 1840 B. Kingdon tr. A. P. de Candolle's Veget. Organogr. II. ii. 90 It is well to retain for these doubtful cases of a single envelope a particular name... Following the analogy of the terms sepals and petals, I propose..the name of Tepals. 1866 Treas. Bot., Tepal, another name for petal. Also the pieces of a perianth, being of an ambiguous nature, between calyx and corolla. 1939 Rep. Bot. Soc. Brit. Isles XII. 120 It is proposed to refer to them [sc. the perianth segments of Rumex] as Inner and Outer Perianth Segments, or Tepals. 1951 G. H. M. Lawrence Taxon. Vascular Plants ii. 413 Perianth..generally undifferentiated into corolla and calyx, and when so the segments termed tepals. 1968 A. Cronquist Evol. & Classification Flowering Plants iii. 87 The tepals of the more primitive angiosperm families are modified leaves. 1972 Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. XCVII. 336 Because magnolia flowers usually have no distinction between petals and sepals the term tepal has been generally accepted for these floral parts. |