Category
Ovule and seed
Three points on one small body, and three ways to mishear them.
An ovule is anchored at one end and open at the other. The stalk holding it is the funiculus, the base where stalk, coats and nucellus all meet is the chalaza, and the opening at the far end is the micropyle, which is where the pollen tube goes in.
One is Latin and two are Greek. All three are spelled by their origin rather than by their sound, and the vowels that carry the origin are exactly the ones speech flattens out.
3 terms in this group
- micropyle
The micropyle is the tiny opening in the coats of an ovule through which the pollen tube enters. It survives in the seed as a minute pore, and it is usually where the radicle pushes out at germination.
5 heard spellings
- funiculus
The funiculus is the stalk that joins an ovule, and later the seed, to the placenta inside the ovary. When the seed comes away it leaves a scar called the hilum, the mark on the flat side of a broad bean.
8 heard spellings
- chalaza
The chalaza is the base of an ovule, where the stalk, the coats and the nucellus all run together. It sits opposite the micropyle. In a bird's egg the same word names the twisted strands that hold the yolk in place.
8 heard spellings