Pl. trichomata. [mod.L., a. Gr. τρίχωμα a growth of hair, f. τριχοῦν to cover with hair.]
1. Path. A disease of the hair: = PLICA 1.
1799. Hooper, Med. Dict., Trichōma, a disease of the hair. See Plica polonica.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Trichoma, Capillamentum, Plica.
2. Bot. Each of the filaments composing the thallus in algæ of the order Nostochineæ.
1866. Treas. Bot., Trichoma, the filamentous thallus of algals, as Conferva.
1879. W. G. Farlow, Marine Algæ (1881), 11. In the Nostochineæ, the cells are attached to one another in the form of filaments, to which the name of trichomata is given.
Hence (from sense 1) Trichomaphyte [Gr. φυτόν plant], a cryptogamic growth formerly supposed to cause trichoma; Trichomatose a., affected with trichoma.
1857. in Dunglison, Med. Lex.