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xenogamy zi-NOG-uh-mee noun cross fertilization 1902More Letters of Charles DarwinIn xenogamy the pollen comes from another plant; in geitonogamy from another flower on the same plant; in autogamy from the androecium of the fertilised flower. Allogamy embraces xenogamy and geitonogamy.Labels: Charles Darwin
coeval ko-EE-vuhl noun, adjective of the same era 1845The Voyage of the BeagleThe chief part of the range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the beginning of the world.1912The Unbearable BassingtonEven in tourist-trampled Versailles the desolation of a tragedy that cannot die haunts the terraces and fountains like a bloodstain that will not wash out; in the Saxon Garden at Warsaw there broods the memory of long-dead things, coeval with the stately trees that shade its walks, and with the carp that swim to-day in its ponds as they doubtless swam there when 'Lieber Augustin' was a living person and not as yet an immortal couplet.1977The SilmarillonGreat might was given to him by Ilúvatar, and he was coeval with Manwë.Labels: Charles Darwin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Saki
stridulate STRI-juh-layt verb the production of sound by the rubbing together of body parts as done by the cricket or cicada 1863The Naturalist on the River AmazonThey are the call-notes of the males. In the common field-cricket of Europe the male has been observed to place itself, in the evening, at the entrance of its burrow, and stridulate until a female approaches, when the louder notes are succeeded by a more subdued tone, while the successful musician caresses with his antennae the mate he has won.1871The Descent of ManAccording to Westring, Reduvius Personatus also stridulates.1947Consider Her Ways...all the rest of us would meanwhile move to a point half-way between our army and the hill; there, having halted, we should all stridulate so as at once to alarm the enemy…Labels: Charles Darwin, Frederick Philip Grove, Walter Bates
deleterious de-luh-TEER-ee-uhs adjective something which has a negative effect 1845The Voyage of the BeagleMysterious as this circumstance appears to be, it is not more surprising than that the body of one's fellow-creature, directly after death, and before putrefaction has commenced, should often be of so deleterious a quality that the mere puncture from an instrument used in its dissection should prove fatal. 1972Death CheckYour presence here seems to have a deleterious effect on the quietude of our little rest home.1996DinoshiftAlthough the SD projects had not triggered the space-time discontinuance forecast by Stennerdahl and others, in its collective wisdom the Assembly instructed the Secretary General to suspend the Shift Dispersion program pending 'further investigation of any deleterious effects on the environment'.Labels: Brian Clark, Charles Darwin, Warren Murphy and Richard Ben Sapir
orchidaceous or-kuh-DAY-shuhs adjective orchid like; relating to orchids 1859On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural SelectionNearly all our orchidaceous plants absolutely require the visits of insects to remove their pollen-masses and thus to fertilise them. 2001Hotel HonoluluIt was one of those brilliant orchidaceous days on the North Shore of Oahu, under the towering palms.Labels: Charles Darwin, Paul Theroux
fissiparous fi-SI-puh-ruhs adjective characterized by divisive tendencies; the propensity to divide or break away from a larger body or group 1868The Variation of Animals and Plants Under DomesticationSuch cases as that of the Hydra are evidently analogous to the spontaneous division or fissiparous generation of the lowest animals, and likewise to the budding of plants.1911Proportional RepresentationIn such circumstances parties necessarily give place to groups, and the fissiparous tendency is most apparent where party discipline is most rigid.1934A Backward GlanceMay not the matchless beauty of an ancient rite have protected our ancestors from what Huxley called the 'fissiparous tendency of the Protestant sects,'…2003The History of Middle EarthEvil is fissiparous.Labels: Charles Darwin, Edith Wharton, J. R. R. Tolkien, John H. Humphreys
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