Bot. [mod. L. (Linnæus, 1735), f. Gr. τετρα-, TETRA- + δύναμ-ις power, strength + -IA1: cf. DIDYNAMIA.] The fifteenth class in the Linnæan Sexual System, comprising plants which bear hermaphrodite flowers with six stamens in pairs, four of which are longer than the others; corresponding to the N.O. Cruciferæ. Hence Tetradynamian a., = Tetradynamous; sb., a plant of the class Tetradynamia; Tetradynamious, Tetradynamous adjs., of or pertaining to this class; having four longer and two shorter stamens.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., II. ii. (1765), 74. Tetradynamia.… There are in the Flowers of this Class six Stamina, four of which are longer than the rest.
1785. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., ix. (1794), 92. Tetradynamia is … one of your first acquaintance under the gentler appellation of cruciform flowers.
1828. Webster, Tetradynamian.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 20. The stamens are occasionally tetradynamous.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., Tetradynamious, or tetradynamous.
