What is "sigillaria"

Sigillaria \Sig`il*la"ri*a\, n. pl. [L., from sigillum a seal. See Sigil.] (Rom. Antic.) Little images or figures of earthenware exposed for sale, or given as presents, on the last two days of the Saturnalia; hence, the last two, or the sixth and seventh, days of the Saturnalia.

Sigillaria \Sig`il*la"ri*a\, n. [NL., fem sing. fr. L. sigillum a seal.] (Paleon.) A genus of fossil trees principally found in the coal formation; -- so named from the seallike leaf scars in vertical rows on the surface.

Etymology 1 n. Any of the genus ''Sigillaria'' of fossil trees principally found in the coal formation, with seal-like leaf scars in vertical rows on the surface. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context historical Ancient Rome English) Little images or figures of earthenware sold or given as presents on the last two days of the saturnalia. 2 (context by extension English) The last two days (i.e. the sixth and seventh) of the saturnalia.

Sigillaria is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent (tree-like) plants. It was a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses, but even more closely to quillworts, as was its associate Lepidodendron.

In ancient Roman culture, sigillaria were pottery or wax figurines given as traditional gifts during the Saturnalia. Sigillaria as a proper noun was also the name for the last day of the Saturnalia, December 23, and for a place where sigillaria were sold. A sigillarius was a person who made and sold sigillaria, perhaps as an offshoot of pottery manufacture.