A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Mericarp, mericarpium; “one of the half fruits of an Umbellifer: it is a carpel ripened and separated from a common axis or growing point” (Lindley); ‘a portion of a fruit which splits away as a perfect fruit; as the two carpels in Umbelliferae’ (Jackson); a portion of a fruit which splits away as a seemingly separate fruit, as the two carpels in the Umbelliferae” (Fernald 1950); a section of a schizocarp; “one of the two carpels that resemble achenes and form the schizocarp of an umbelliferous plant” (WIII): mericarpium,-i (s.n.II), abl. sg. mericarpio; = coccus,-i (s.m.II), q.v., abl. sg. cocco [> Gk. meros, a part, partial + karpos, fruit]; see commissure, see coccus,-i (s.m.II), abl. sg. cocco, q.v.; see schizocarp; see carpium,-ii (s.n.II); cf. valve.

“Some botanists call all fruits, the carpels of which separate from each other without opening - schizocarps; and term their component carpels cocci if there are more than two, or if only two in number, as in the Umbelliferae, — mericarps” (Bentley).

- [Umbelliferae] Fructus inferus, siccus, calycis limbo dum adsit disco stylisque saepissime persistentibus coronatus, jugis longitudinalibus nunc tenuissimis nunc saepius prominulis nerviformibus v. elevatis v. in alas expansis instructus, et interstitiis valleculas dictis notatus, in carpella (mericarpia) 2, indehiscentia, 1-sperma, facie seu commissura plana applicita, septicide secedens (B&H), fruit inferior, dry, crowned with the limb of the calyx (as long as it is present, with the disc and styles most often persistent, provided with longitudinal ridges sometimes very thin sometimes, more often, somewhat raised, like a nerve in shape or elevated or expanded into wings, and the marked with the interstices [i.e. spaces in between] called valleculae, [the fruit] septicidally separating into two carpels (mericarps), indehiscent, 1-seeded, attached to the flat face or commissure.

- mericarpia jugis 5-filiformibus aequalibus lateralibus marginantibus (Boissier), mericarpa with 5 filiform, equal, lateral, bordering ridges.

- capsula ante maturitatem carnosula fere globosa vel obscure didyma, matura tamen in coccos 2-valves solvitur, capsule before maturity somewhat fleshy almost globose or obscurely two-lobed, mature [sc. capsule] for all that (nevertheless, however, yet) into 2-valved mericarps broken up.

- fructibus 8-pteris, mericarpiis 4- pteris alis basi emarginatis, jugis primariis inter alas papulosis hirsutis, carpophoro bipartito (Boissier), with the fruits 8-winged, with the mericarps 4-winged with the wings notched at the base, with the primary ridges , between the wings pustular [i.e. larger than a papilla], hirsute, with the carpophore parted into two.

- fructibus ovatis parvis, mericarpiis 2-pteris, alis ad apicem fructus sensim attenuatis tenuissime transversim plicatis, dorsalibus nullis, carpophoro bipartito, semine involuto (Boissier), with the fruits ovate, small with the mericarps 2-winged, with the wings toward the apex of the fruit gradually attenuate, very thinly transversly plicate, with none on the backs, with the carpophore in two parts, with the seed enveloped.

- mericarpia jugis 5 filiformibus, intermediis duobus aliquando obliteratis, lateralibus marginantibus, valleculis planis evitatis (Boissier), with the mericarps with 5 filiform ridges, the intermediate ones two, occasionally obliterated, the lateral ones forming a border, the furrows flat, lacking vittae.

- mericarpiis subaequalibus, utroque foecundo subaequaliter acute 4-5-costato (F. Mueller), with the mericarps nearly the same, each one nearly equally acute, 4-5-ribbed.

- mericarpiis undique copia setularum ciliatarum dense tomentoso-hispidis. (F. Mueller), with the mericarps all over densely tomentose-hispidous with an abundance of ciliate small bristles.