A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Ossiculum,-i (s.n.II), abl. sg. ossiculo: a small bone, an ossicle; ossiculum “(obsol.) a drupe” (Lindley); “the pyrene of a fruit, as a medlar” (Jackson) [medlar = Mespilus germanica (Rosaceae)]; the pyrene, q.v., is the stone or pit of a drupe or drupelet, as in the fruit of the huckleberry; a small, hard nutlet [> L. os, gen.sg. ossis (s.n.III) 'bone' + dim. -culum, a (small) bone];

- arbores pruniferae sunt vel fructuùs ossiculo unicum nucleum claudente, fructuum pediculis nullis aut brevissimis, ossiculo laevi aut aequalis, [vel] scabro, sulcis aut scrobiculis profundius exarato (Ray), the trees are drupe-bearing or with the ossicle [i.e. pyrene] of the fruits enclosing a single nucleus [i.e. kernel], with the pedicles of the fruits none or very short, with the ossible [i.e. pyrene] smooth or even, or rough, more deeply engraved with furrows or small pits.

- drupa, compresso-ovata. Ossïculum , fibris lignosis intertextum , in quo nucleus (Necker); drupe compressed-ovate. The Ossiculum [i.e. pyrene] interwoven with woody fibers, in which [is] the nucleus [nutlet].

- Drupa, 1-locuIaris. Ossiculum, lignosum , 4-loculare (Necker), the drupe 1-locular. The ossiculum [i.e. pyrene] woody, 4-locular.

- notabilem fungum in pennis ossiculisque superstitibus cadaveris unici corvini (Corvi Cornicis L.) putredine jamjam conficiendi, loco umbroso jacentis, invenimus (S&A), we came across this remarkable fungus on the feathers and preserved small bones of a solitary crow-carcass (Corvi Cornicis L.), already finishing with putrefaction, fallen in a shady place.

- Cornus hortensis, mas, fructu saturatius rubente, cum ossiculo crassiore & breviore (Tourn.), Garden Dogwood, Cornus mas, with the fruit more richly red, with the drupe thicker and shorter.