Crossword clues for dehiscence
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dehiscence \De*his"cence\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]hiscence.]
The act of gaping.
(Biol.) A gaping or bursting open along a definite line of attachment or suture, without tearing, as in the opening of pods, or the bursting of capsules at maturity so as to emit seeds, etc.; also, the bursting open of follicles, as in the ovaries of animals, for the expulsion of their contents.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context botany English) open of an organ by its own means (such as an anther or a seed pod) to release its contents. 2 (context medicine English) A rupture, as with a surgical wound opening up, often with a flow of serous fluid. 3 (context rare English) Opening, gaping, in a general sense.
WordNet
n. (biology) release of material by splitting open of an organ or tissue; the natural bursting open at maturity of a fruit or other reproductive body to release seeds or spores or the bursting open of a surgically closed wound
Wikipedia
Dehiscence is the splitting at maturity along a built-in line of weakness in a plant structure in order to release its contents, and is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, and rely on other mechanisms such as decay or predation to release the contents.
A similar process to dehiscence occurs in some flower buds (e.g., Platycodon, Fuchsia), but this is rarely referred to as dehiscence unless circumscissile dehiscence is involved; anthesis is the usual term for the opening of flowers. Dehiscence may or may not involve the loss of a structure through the process of abscission. The lost structures are said to be caducous.
Dehiscence can refer to:
- Dehiscence (botany), the spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents
- Wound dehiscence, a previously closed wound reopening
- Superior canal dehiscence, in which a new window opens up in the labyrinth of the inner ear, resulting in a form of vertigo
- Autothysis, a usually fatal, voluntary dehiscence used as a form of defense by ants, termites and other animals.
- Killian's dehiscence, a triangular area in the wall of the pharynx
Usage examples of "dehiscence".
The pollen sacs of the nettles were ripe, and every now and then the vigil would be enlivened by the dehiscence of these, the bursting of the sacs sounding exactly like the crack of a pistol, and the pollen grains as big as buckshot pattered all about them.
There must, therefore, be a spontaneous bursting, or dehiscence, independent of the assistance of the youngsters and similar to that of the seed-pods of plants.
In these two genera the elaters are attached to a sterile group of cells projecting into the upper end of the capsule, and on dehiscence remain connected with the tips of the valves.
This isolated example thus appears to approach the Bryales in its mode of dehiscence.
Just prior to dehiscence, the pollen nucleus divides to produce a small repro- ductive cell accompanied by a large vegeta- tive cell, both of which are contained within the mature pollen grain.