Nat. Hist. [a. F. stipule, ad. mod.L. STIPULA. Cf. Sw. stipel.]
1. Bot. A lateral appendage (often resembling a small leaf or scale) borne in pairs upon the leaf-base of certain plants. Also applied to a similar appendage in Characeæ, and to the paraphyllum of mosses.
1793. Martyn, Lang. Bot., Stipula, a Stipula or Stipule…. A scale at the base of the nascent petioles.
1800. Asiatic Ann. Reg., 276/1. Stipules lateral, paired, ovate, acuminated.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 192. Stipules may be considered as lateral branches of the leaves which arise at their very point of insertion;… each single stipule is usually bilaterally unsymmetrical, and its shape is therefore such that [etc.]. Ibid., 281. From the basal nodes of Chara other foliar structures also arise,… which Braun calls Stipules.
2. Ornith. A newly sprouted feather; a pin-feather. [So F. stipule (Littré).]
1891. Century Dict.
Hence † Stipuleless a.
1802. R. Hall, Elem. Bot., Dict., Stipule-less, exstipulatus, without stipules.
