English

Flower diagram with urceole labelled as floral axis

Noun

urceole ‎(plural urceoles)

1. A vessel for water or washing the hands in Roman Catholicism.
   • 1848, George Lillie Craik, The Pictorial History of England, page 135:

     He was next divested of the alb or surplice, and also of the maniple (otherwise called the fanon or fannel), a kind of scarf worn on the left wrist, to denote his degradation from the order of sub-deaconship; after that he surrendered, as acolyte, the candlestick, taper, and small pitcher called urceole; as exorcist, the book of exorcisms; as reader, the lectionary or book of daily lessons; and, as sexton, the surplice of that office and the key of the church-door.

2. (botany) A disc in the center of a flower, often resembling a thickening of the corolla, which holds the carpels.
   • 1837, James Macfadyen, The Flora of Jamaica, page 101:

     Stamineal urceole 10-15-toothed, with 5-10 of the teeth obtuse and sterile, and the 5 remaining ones alternate and monantherous.

   • 1961, Roger William Butcher, A New Illustrated British Flora, page 686:

     The common Lady's Mantle is now considered to include 10 species based chiefly on the distribution of hairiness, the shape of the leaf and the fruit or urceole.

   • 1968, The Journal of Biological Sciences - Volume 11, Issues 1-2, page 3:

     The numerous structures lying on the floor of the ovarian cavity have been interpreted in the past as carpels (Stapf, 1894; Baehni, 1937, 1938) or as female flowers (Hutchinson, 1926) while the urceole has been regarded as an overdeveloped "disc" or receptacle (Stapf, l.e.), a receptacle resembling a thick corolla (Hutchinson, l.e) and corolla (Baehni, l.c).