Meanings
plural pyxidia
- biologyA seed capsule in the form of a box, the seeds being released when the top splits off.
A fruit of this kind is sometimes termed a pyxidium; that is, a little chest.
1836, Asa Gray, Elements of Botany, page 2213 more examples
Key to Species of Cariniana Inflorescence predominantly terminal and subterminal; pyxidium without teeth at line of opercular dehiscence.
1979, Organization for Flora Neotropica, New York Botanical Garden, Flora Neotropica: Issue 21, Part 1, p. 221The pyxidium has the trigonoidly cylindrical or obconical form of that of Couratari, but it is much thicker, heavier, and more solid in substance.
1924, Samuel James Record, Clayton Dissinger Mell, Timbers of Tropical America, page 467The capsule of gold−beater's skin, in which the grubs of the Cione are enclosed, divides itself, at the moment of liberation, into two hemispheres "of a regularity so perfect that they recall exactly the bursting of the pyxidium when the seed is distributed".
1913, Georges Victor Legros, Fabre: Poet of Science, page 176
Synonyms & antonyms
nounfruit of such plants as the plantain; a capsule whose upper part falls off when the seeds are released
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπυξίδιον
- Englishpyxidium
From New Latin, from Ancient Greek πυξίδιον (puxídion), diminutive of πῠξῐ́ς (pŭxĭ́s, “box”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian семенна кутийка
- семенна кутийка (semenna kutijka)a seed capsule in the form of a box
Polish torebka
- torebkaa seed capsule in the form of a box
Cite this entry
pyxidium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyxidium
“pyxidium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyxidium. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pyxidium,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyxidium.
Source: pyxidium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.