A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Subula,-ae (s.f.I), abl.sg. subula: a fine, long, slender, sharp point, awl [> L. subula,-ae (s.f.I), an awl; “a shoemaker’s awl” (Glare)]; cf. apiculus,-i (s.m.II);

NOTE: apiculus,-i (s.m.II), q.v., “a sharp and short, but not stiff point, in which a leaf may end” (Jackson); mucro,-onis (s.m.(III), q.v., a short, hard, abrupt apical point, shorter than an apiculus; cuspis,-idis (s.f.III), q.v., a sharp and rigid point longer and stouter than a mucro; subula,-ae (s.f.I), q.v., slenderly long-acuminate, like an awl or needle, longer than the preceeding ‘points.’

- costa subpercurrens, in foliis superioris in subula evanida, costa subpercurrent, in the upper leaves disappearing into a subula.

Awl (Eng. word), “a pointed instrument for marking surfaces or piercing small holes (as in leather or wood” (WIII).