calyx

calyx

1. the sepals of a flower collectively, forming the outer floral envelope that protects the developing flower bud

2. any cup-shaped cavity or structure, esp any of the divisions of the human kidney (renal calyx) that form the renal pelvis

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

calyx

[′kā‚liks]

(botany)

The outermost whorl of a flower; composed of sepals.

(engineering)

A steel tube that is a guide rod and is also used to catch cuttings from a drill rod. Also known as bucket; sludge barrel; sludge bucket.

(invertebrate zoology)

A cup-shaped structure to which the arms are attached in crinoids.

(medicine)

A cuplike structure.

In the kidney, a collecting structure extending from the renal pelvis.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

calyx

An ornament resembling the outer protective covering of a flower; found, for example, in the Corinthian capital.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Calyx

 

the aggregate of usually green outer leaflets, or sepals, surrounding the corolla in flowers having a double perianth. The sepals are separate or fused.

The biological purpose of the calyx is to protect the flower’s internal organs and the developing fruit and to ensure supplementary feeding. In a few plants (Hydrangea, Erica, and some Ranunculaceae) the calyx is large and brightly colored and serves, instead of a corolla (which is either absent or underdeveloped), to attract insects. In some plants (Papaver) the calyx falls off when the flower opens; in others (Ranunculus) it falls off after the completion of flowering. In the majority of plants, however, the calyx remains after flowering and may even proliferate and participate in fruit formation. In Umbelliferae, Compositae, and some other plants the calyx is completely reduced or converted into hairs.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.