‖ ocrea
(ˈɒkriːə)
Erron. ochrea. pl. -æ.
[L. ocrea a greave or legging, worn by foot-soldiers, hunters, and country people.]
a. Bot. (a) A sheath or tube round a stem or stalk formed by the lateral cohesion of two or more stipules; (b) The thin sheath surrounding the seta in mosses. b. Zool. An investing part or growth similar to this; the ‘boot’ of a bird (see ocreate a. 2).
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 169 The cohesion of the scarious stipulæ into a sheath, technically called an ochrea, or boot, is sufficient to distinguish Polygoneæ from all other plants. 1835 ― Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 308 When stipules surround the stem of a plant they become an ochrea. 1863 Berkeley Brit. Mosses Gloss. 312 Ocrea, a little sheath sometimes investing the base of the fruitstalk, distinct from the vaginula. |
Hence ocreˈaceous a., Bot., of the nature or form of an ocrea.
| 1878 Masters Henfrey's Bot. 329 The..plants of this order may be distinguished by the peculiar ocreaceous stipules. |