corolla
(kɒˈrɒlə)
Pl. corollas.
[a. L. corolla, dim. of corōna crown, garland. Used as a botanical term by Linnæus.]
† 1. A little crown, coronet; a figure shaped like a coronet. Obs. rare.
| 1671 Phil. Trans. VI 2251 Surrounded by a corolla or coronet made up of little dark points. |
2. Bot. The whorl of leaves (petals) either separate or grown together, forming the inner envelope of the flower, and generally its most conspicuous part; usually ‘coloured’ (i.e. not green), and of delicate texture. (Called by Grew the foliation. Cf. calyx.)
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Corolla, among botanists, is the most conspicuous part of a flower. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. i. 22 This is called the corolla, and not the flower, as it is by the vulgar. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iii. (1814) 68 The corolla consists either of a single piece, when it is called monopetalous, or of many pieces, when it is called polypetalous. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vi. 161 When a flower is fertilised by the wind it never has a gaily-coloured corolla. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. 153 It is..for the sake of the corolla that we cultivate the flower. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1865) 78 Beauty's changed corolla-shades. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 135 Corolla-tube urceolate or cylindric. Ibid. 178 Corolla-lobes with slender tips. Ibid. 261 Upper corolla-lip entire. |