vascular, a.
(ˈvæskjʊlə(r))
[ad. mod.L. vāsculār-is, f. L. vāscul-um, dim. of vās vas. So F. vasculaire, It. vasculare, Sp. and Pg. vascular.]
1. Bot. a. Of fibres, tissue, etc.: Having the form of tubular vessels; consisting of continuous tubes of simple membrane.
| 1672–3 Grew Anat. Pl., Anat. Roots (1682) 69 The Vascular Rays are not equally extended in all Roots. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 156 The solids are all vascular, and consist of elastic fibres. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. i. iii. 52 The vascular fibres of the bark. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 68 The membranous tissue of the plant, whether cellular or vascular, is uniformly colourless. 1847 H. Miller Test. Rocks (1857) 31 Its mass of soft cellular tissue is strengthened all round by internal buttresses of dense vascular fibre. 1875 Dawson Dawn Life ii. 32 Plants existed at that time having true woody or vascular tissues. |
b. Of structure: Characterized by the prevalence of tubular vessels.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Vegetable, The vascular Structure of Vegetables, is render'd very apparent, by an Experiment of Mr. Willoughby. 1807 J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 13 From preceding writers we had learned the general tubular or vascular structure of the vegetable body. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 9 Endogens are flowering plants with a vascular structure. |
c. vascular system, the aggregate of tubular vessels in a plant.
| 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 60 The alburnum is the great vascular system of the vegetable through which the sap rises. 1832 Lindley Introd. Bot. 59 In both cases there is a cellular and vascular system distinct from each other. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1205/1 Vascular system, all that part of the interior structure of a plant into whose composition spiral vessels or their modifications enter. |
d. Of plants: Having a vascular structure.
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. Introd. p. xiv, All plants that bear flowers have spiral vessels, and are therefore Vascular. 1849 Murchison Siluria xii. 287 The great mass of the plants belong to the vascular cryptogamic class. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 67 The lowest orders of Vascular Plants, like the true Mosses, are comparatively insignificant in appearance. |
e. vascular wilt (disease): wilt disease involving the vascular system of a plant;
spec. = Panama disease s.v. Panama.
| 1946 Nature 16 Nov. 712 The presence of a vascular wilt disease of the oil palm. 1951 New Biol. XI. 76 Vascular Wilt Disease..of bananas in the Old World made its appearance in Central America towards the end of the nineteenth century. 1972 [see Panama disease s.v. Panama]. |
2. Anat. or
Phys. a. Having the character or properties of a conveying vessel or vessels.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., All the Flesh in an animal Body is found to be Vascular, none of it Parenchymous. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 2 The several parts of its body being, at some time of its existence, vascular. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xi. (ed. 2) 209 It [the spleen] must be vascular, and admit of a circulation through it, in order to be kept alive, or be part of a living body. 1835 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 126/1 The vascular is another tissue extensively distributed among animals. 1880 Beale Slight Ailments 85 If we could see the mucous membrane in..cases of indigestion we should no doubt find it unduly vascular. |
| fig. 1838 Emerson Address, Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 209 An able man is nothing else than a good, free, vascular organization, whereinto the universal spirit freely flows. 1847 ― Repr. Men, Montaigne Ibid. I. 344 Cut these words, and they would bleed; they are vascular and alive. |
b. vascular system: (see
quot. 1876).
| 1725 Robinson Phys. & Dis. 255 The Air..obliges the whole vascular system of the Solids to redouble their Contractions. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 215 To restore the energy and lost tone of the vascular system. 1876 J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 485 The vascular system comprises the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries; the lymphatic glands and vessels, together with certain ductless glands; and the blood with its tributary fluids. |
c. Affecting the vascular system or tissue.
| 1869 Spencer Princ. Psychol. ii. v. (1872) I. 236 The vascular excitement, caused by emotion. 1881 Med. Temp. Jrnl. XLVIII. 206 The first stage of alcoholic action is vascular excitement rapidly followed by exhaustion. |