A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Cilium,-ii (s.n.II), abl. sg. cilio, nom. & acc. pl. cilia, gen. pl. ciliorum, dat. & abl. pl. ciliis: cilium, a hair-like [i.e. capillary] process, usually minute, often forming a fringe, as on leaf margins; “marginal hairs forming a fringe” (Lindley); “marginal hairs” (Fernald 1950); (bryology) “delicate, hair-like or thread-like structure mostly one cell wide and unbranched (opposed to lacinia); in peristomes the structures frequently found singly or in groups alternating with the segments of the inner peristome; also applied to hair-like appendages fringing leaves or calyptrae” (Magill 1990); “a hairlike process found on many cells that is capable of vibratory or lashing movement” (WIII); (fungi) “a relatively short, vibratile, protoplasmic, swimming process with an elastic filament arising from a basal granule and surrounded by a cytoplasmic sheath, usually occurring in numbers and often in rows; in the lichens, a slender filament composed of a bundle of fibers on the upper surface or at the margin of the thallus. Cilia and flagella are often confused” (S&D) [> L. cilium,-ii (s.n.II), the eyelid, the lower eyelid; cilia, in the plural, is "probably a back-formation from supercilium, eyebrow" (WIII)]; = Gk. blepharon (s.n.II), eyelids]; cf. lacinia,-ae (s.f.I); a cirrus,-i (s.m.II), q.v., may be a cilium that is wavy or curled; see hair; see eyelash;

- [Drosera] folia ciliis glandulosis rubidis irritabilibus ornata (DeCandolle), the leaves furnished with glandulose, reddish, sensitive cilia [i.e. hair-like processes].

- stipulae e ciliis paucis (B&H), the stipules [composed of] a few cilia.

- stipulae e ciliis inconspicuis (B&H), stipules from a few cilia.

- (fungus)receptaculum sursum dilatatur discoideum concaviusculum, ciliis longissimis concoloribus, dein subrubelle micantibus, marginatum (S&A), the receptacle upwardly dilated, discoid, somewhat concave, bordered with very long cilia the same color, then somewhat reddish, shining.

- [fungus] Cilia haec, toto fungillo longiora , recta sunt vel rarius subflexuosa, parallela , vix divaricata, erecta aut semipatula, seriem circa marginem disposita, rigidiuscula quidem, at non setosa. (S&A), these cilia, longer than the whole fungillus, are straight or more rarely somewhat flexuose, parallel, scarcely divaricate, erect or somewhat spreading, arranged in a row around the margin, certainly somewhat rigid but not bristle-like.

- [fungi] demum a pluviis forsan ablutum, totum perit, ut in exemplis vetustis discus nudus, plerumque tum distortus, ciliis suis persistenter fimbriatus supersit (S&A), at length, washed away perhaps by rains, the whole perishes, although in old specimens the naked disc may survive, usually then distorted, persistently fimbriate with its own cilia.

- [alga] vidi membranam strato filorum circumdatam, et in Confervae specie, ad C. vesicatam proxima, frondem quasi serie ciliorum subtilissimorum cinctam observavi (Agardh), I have seen a membrane surrounded by a layer of filaments, and I have observed in a species of Conferva, nearest to Conferva vesicata, the frond, as if girdled by a row of the most delicate cilia.

- [algae] frondes subregulariter dichotomae, furca apicis patula, articulatae articulis diametro 3plo longioribus, geniculis prostantibus verticillo ciliorum minutissimorum cinctis (Agardh), the fronds nearly uniformly dichotomous, with the fork of the apex spreading, jointed, with the joints 3 times longer than the diameter, with the little knees [i.e. nodes] projecting, bound by a verticil of the tiniest cilia.

- [lichen] scyphis irregularibus proliferis et hinc inde margine nigro-ciliatis (ciliis rhiziniformibus, crassit. circa 0,03 millim., interdum bifurcato-divisis, ex elementis tenuibus nigricantibus (Nyl.), with the scyphi irregular, bearing offspring and here and there on the margin with (shining) black cilia (with the cilia like rhizinae (root-like hairs), around 0.03 milimeters in thickness, sometimes bifurcate-divided, from thin blackish elements.

- [moss] sed ciliae basis calyptrae vel papillae s. verrucae superficiei nullius momenti sunt (C. Mueller), but the cilia of the bottom of the calyptra, or the papillae [s. = seu, ‘or’] verrucae of the surface are of trifling importance.

NOTE: sometimes erroneously written as though a Decl. I noun (e.g. cilia,-ae).

NOTE: lacinia in bryophytes = segment; appendages coarser than cilia and more than one cell wide” (Magill 1990); see lacinia; see segment.