heterostylous
|het-er-o-sty-lous|
/ˌhɛtərəˈstaɪləs/
having styles of different lengths (in a species)
Etymology
'heterostylous' originates from Greek, specifically the roots 'heteros' meaning 'different, other' and 'stylos' meaning 'pillar, style', coming into scientific English via New Latin formations and English 'style' plus the adjectival suffix '-ous'.
'heteros' + 'stylos' formed New Latin terms referring to style-length differences; in 19th‑century scientific English this combined as 'hetero-' + 'style' + '-ous', yielding the modern adjective 'heterostylous'.
Initially, it denoted plants with differing style lengths; the meaning has remained stable in modern botanical usage.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
in botany, having flowers with styles of differing lengths within the same species; exhibiting heterostyly.
Primroses are heterostylous, exhibiting pin and thrum flower forms.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/08/11 10:53