monocarpousadj.
/ˌmɒnə(ʊ)ˈkɑːpəs/, U.S. /ˌmɑnəˈkɑrpəs/ 1. Chiefly Botany.† a. Having a single fruit. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
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1731 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Monocarpous, a term apply'd to such plants as bear but one single fruit.
1857 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) Monocarpus, having only single or solitary fruit, as the Commarus [sic] monocarpus, Hippocampus monocarpa: monocarpous.
b. Originally (of a plant): monocarpic. Later also (of an animal, esp. a fossil coral): reproducing only once and then dying.
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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > plant that bears fruit > [adjective] > bearing fruit or fruitful > many or spec. number of times
biferous1656
multiferous1656
triferous1656
monocarpous1830
polycarpous1832
sychnocarpous1832
monocarpic1849
polycarpic1849
monocarpian1856
polytocous1879
monotocous1880
hapaxanthic1893
pollakanthic1909
pollakanthous1965
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Bot. (1839) iii. i. 475 Monocarpous: bearing fruit but once, and dying after fructification, as Wheat.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 766/2 Monocarpons [read Monocarpous] is a term invented by de Candolle to designate what gardeners call annual plants.
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 806 The plant itself is also completely exhausted, all its disposable formative substances are given up to the seed and the fruit, and it dies off (monocarpous plants).
1943 Amer. Midland Naturalist 30 31 I believe the plant is only biennial; certainly it is monocarpous.
1982 Paleontol. Jrnl. 16 iii. 4 The corals..can be divided into three groups..: 1) Monocarpous species: individuals live only until they have reproduced once, and then die immediately.
1989 Lethaia 22 287 Favosites conicus Hall (Lower Devonian)..apparently had a short life span and may not have survived beyond the first reproductive cycle (monocarpous).
c. Having or derived from a single carpel. Cf. monocarpellary adj.
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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having or relating to parts > of or having stamens or pistils > of or having style, pistil, or female parts > having specific number or arrangement of carpels
apocarpous1830
carpellary1830
syncarpous1830
polycarpous1836
polycarpic1858
monocarpellary1863
polycarpellary1870
tricarpellary1872
monocarpous1876
tetracamarous1891
tricarpous1891
tricarpellate1900
monocarpellate1960
1876 J. Harley Royle's Man. Materia Med. (ed. 6) 603 Euryangium Sumbul... Musk-Root... Umbels compound on short stalks. Fruit monocarpous.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 560 When the gynæceum of a flower consists of a single ovary only one fruit is formed, and the flower is said to be monocarpous.
1995 Brittonia 47 397/1 These taxa (based primarily on the occurrence in all four taxa of a bi-ovulate, apocarpous or monocarpous gynoecium) were grouped at the subfamily level within Simaroubaceae s.l.
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1848 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 7) 555/2 Monocarpæ, a division of cutaneous affections, of the family Eczematosen of Fuchs, which includes strophulus, psydracia, and ecthyma.]
1891 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Monocarpous... Formerly used to describe an eruption the spots of which were not close to each other but discrete.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1731