A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Medulla, pith, “the pith; that central column of cellular matter over which the wood is formed in Exogens; (obsol.) any pith-like mass. The caro of certain Fungals” (Lindley); “(of lichens), the loose layer of hyphae inside a thallus; (of fruit bodies of fungi), the part composed mainly or entirely of longitudinal hyphae” (Ainsworth & Bisby); in lichens the medulla occurs below the cortex and below the algal (symbiont) layer. It may reside next to the substrate (as in crustose or squamulose lichens) or in foliose lichens there may be another cortex below the medulla layer. The lichen medulla is not as closely packed as the cortical one(s), and resembles cotton, or it may be hollow; classical L. the marrow of the bone: medulla,-ae (s.f.I), abl.sg. medulla [> L. medulla,-ae (s.f.I) 'the marrow of bones; the pith of plants; ‘the inside, the innermost parts’ > medius, in the middle or center]; see pith; see caro, gen. sg. carnis (s.f.III); see tissue.

Medulla,-ae (s.f.I) may also mean ‘meal, flour;’

- frumenta, quae salsa aqua sparsa moluntur, candidiorem medullam; the grains, which when spread out, are ground with salt water, yield a whiter flour.

Also the inside, the innermost parts:

- the crumb of bread = medulla,-ae (s.f.I) panis; panis pars interior & mollior, the inner and softer part of the bread.

Bolletus medulla panis = Perenniporia medulla-panis.

In algae, the medulla (pith) is a layer of cells, often with parallel filaments, compacted or loose, and of various shapes at the center of the (multicellular) alga thallus. They are differentiated from the cortex of filaments which grow progressively smaller until reaching the cortex surface.

- stratum,-i (s.n.II) medullare, abl. sg. strato medullari, nom. & acc. pl. strata medullaria.

- medulla distaliter solida, proximaliter diaphragmatica, the pith distally solid, proximally diaphragmed [i.e. chambered].

- medulla acidum hypoconsticticum continente, with the medulla containing hypoconstictic [sc. acid].

- hyphae vegetativae in interstitiis inter cellulas vaginae foliaris et medulla caulis reproductivi et testa seminum intima inventae, vegetative hyphae found in the interstices within cells of the leaf sheath and the pith of the reproductive stem and the innermost seed coat.

- truncus constans corporibus duobus, ligneo nempe et corticali, juxta leges inversas crescentibus; Corpus ligneum exhibens in centro medullam e qua productiones medullares radiantes trans strata lignea annua, alia (lignum) interiora seniora duriora, alia (alburnum) exteriora juniora molliora albida (DeCandolle); the trunk consists of two bodies, namely the ligneous and the cortical, growing according to inverse laws; the corpus ligneus displaying in the center a medulla from which medullary productions are radiating across the woody annual layers, the inner ones (the wood), older, harder, the other (alburnum) younger, softer, whitish.

- [fungi] cortex dein magis magisque induratus spadiceus evadit: medulla e fusco nigricat (S&A), the cortex thereafter more and more indurated [i.e. hardened] becomes a chestnut-brown: the medulla grows a shiny black from a blackish-brown.

- [Aecidium asperifolii; fungi] bulla insignis, substantia caulis interiore (cortice, libero, medulla) distenta laxiore farcta (S&A), the bulla is conspicuous, more loosely packed with the distended interior substance of the stem (the cortex, the liber [i.e. the part lying inward from the cortex], the medulla [i.e. the pith]) [= i.e. the stem of the host plant].

- [Pisolithus arenarius; fungi] cortice (a filis substantiae agglutinatis, ut videtur) hirsutulo, tenui, albido vel flavo - sulphurascente, exsiccato etiam colorem servante — medulla carnosa succulenta albida, paullo post brunnescente, simulque cito arefacta et in pulverem terreo - ferrugineum filis parcis intermixtum dilapsa (S&A), with the cortex (from the cemented threads of the tissue, it seems) somewhat hirsute, thin, whitish or yellow-sulphurascent, - preserving the color even when dried out - the medulla fleshy, succulent, whitish, a little later becoming brown, and [at the same time] when dried quickly, also when fallen into decay, into an earth-colored-rusty powder intermixed with small threads.

- frútices alte scandentes, volubiles, saepius piloso-hispidi, ligno inter radios medullares densiores pulcherrime poroso, liquorem limpidum potabilem scatente (B&H), tall-climbing shrubs, twining, more often pilose-hispid, with the wood between the [medullary rays] more dense, most beautifully porose, full of a potable limpid fluid.

- frutex ramosus, glaberrimus v. ramulis ultimis foliisque junioribus pubescentibus, ramorum medulla intus locellata(B&H), a branched shrub, completely glabrous or with the ultimate branchlets and younger leaves pubescent, with the pith of the branches locellate [i.e. divided into small secondary compartments] inside.

Medulla seminis (gen.sg. semen), “(obsol.) the albumen of seeds” (Lindley).