‖ lamella
(ləˈmɛlə)
Pl. lamellæ (læˈmɛliː).
[L. lāmella, dim. of lamina.]
A thin plate, scale, layer, or film, esp. of bone or tissue; e.g. one of the thin scales or plates which compose some shells, one of the gills forming the hymenium of a mushroom, one of the erect scales appended to the corollas of some flowers.
| 1678 Phil. Trans. XII. 977 These Lamellæ, wherewith the said Tunick is roll'd up in so many more folds. 1741 Monro Anat. Bones (ed. 3) 87 The nasal Lamella of the ethmoid Bone. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 502 A talcous stone, which when exposed to the sun and air..dissolves into lamellæ. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 244 Corolla monopetalous..5-lobed, with 2 lamellæ at the base of each lobe. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 428 The ventral surface of the central lamella of the terminal fin. 1879 Rutley Study Rocks x. 87 More than fifty lamellae have been noted, under the microscope, in a single crystal. |