Pl. -ulæ. [Late L. vallecula, var. of L. vallicula, dim. of vallēs, vallis, VALLEY sb. Cf. F. vallécule.]
1. Anat. A furrow, fissure, or fossa; spec. = VALLEY sb. 6.
1859. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., V. 883. Valley, or vallecula, of Haller.
1875. Encycl. Brit., I. 871/2. This lobe forms a well-defined inferior vermiform process, which lies at the bottom of a deep fossa or vallecula.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 782. The spaces between these [glosso-epiglottic] folds are named the valleculæ.
2. Bot. A groove or channel; a sulcus or stria.
1856. Henslow, Bot. Terms, 211. Vallecula, a depressed space (interstice) between the primary ‘Ridges’ on the fruit of Umbelliferæ.
Hence Vallecular a.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, Sachs’s Bot., 376. The vallecular canals, which correspond to the furrows, arise in the fundamental tissue by separation.
