secundine

English

Etymology

From Late Latin secundinae (“afterbirth”), from Latin secundae (“the afterbirth”), shortened from secundae membranae "the second membranes", from secundus (“following, coming next”).[1] See second.

Noun

secundine (plural secundines)

  1. (botany) The second coat, or integument, of an ovule, lying within the primine.
  2. (chiefly in the plural) The afterbirth, or placenta and membranes.

Usage notes
  • (botany): In the ripened seed the primine and secundine are usually united to form the testa, or outer seed coat. When they remain distinct the secundine becomes the mesosperm, as in the castor bean.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “secundine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “secundine”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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