squamule
/ˈskweɪmjuːl
/noun Botany & Zoology
A small scale.These squamules are dissected or incised, meaning the margins have lots of breaks and cuts into them....
- Typically C. ochrochlora has much larger almost undivided squamules while C. coniocraea has smaller finely dissected squamules.
- The ring is white, moderately thick, with verrucose white squamules on the margin of the lower surface.
Derivatives
squamulose
- In foliose lichens, there is a second cortex below the medulla, but in crustose and squamulose lichens, the medulla is in direct contact with the underlying substrate, to which the lichen is attached.
- Lichens in the genus Cladonia have squamulose bases and often have fruticose fruiting structures called podetia.
- Neophyllis melacarpa is a squamulose lichen from the wet forests of southeast Australia and New Zealand which grows on rotting wood and tree trunk bases.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from Latin squamula, diminutive of squama 'scale'.