pneumatophore
(ˈpnjuːmətəʊˌfɔə(r), ˈnjuː-)
[f. pneumato- + Gr. -ϕορ-ος bearing.]
1. Zool. In certain ‘colonial’ or compound Hydrozoa of the order Siphonophora, A specialized part or individual of the ‘colony’, containing an air-cavity (pneumatocyst) and serving as a float.
| 1859 Huxley Oceanic Hydrozoa 5 The float or pneumatophore is..a most remarkable and well-defined structure. 1870 Nicholson Man. Zool. 82 The large proximal dilatation of the coenosarc is termed the ‘pneumatophore’. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 771 The pneumatophore or float, an air-vesicle distinctive of Physophoridæ, Physalidæ, and Discoideæ. |
2. Bot. A structure having numerous lenticels, and supposed to serve as a channel for air, arising from the roots of various trees which grow in swampy places in the tropics.
| 1901 Henslow in Gardener 9 Mar. 1241/3 The formation of ‘knees’ or ‘pneumatophores’, i.e. air conveyers. |
Hence pneumatophorous (-ˈɒfərəs) a., of the nature of or pertaining to a pneumatophore.
| 1895 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |