noun
- a short, broad seed pod that is characteristic of certain plants in the mustard family
Usage: botanical
Examples
- The shepherd’s purse produces a distinctive heart-shaped silicle.
- Botanists use the shape of the silicle to identify different species in the Brassicaceae family.
- Each silicle contains several small seeds that are dispersed when the pod splits open.
- The silicle is typically less than twice as long as it is wide.
- Students examined the silicles under a microscope to observe their internal structure.
- The plant’s silicles turn brown when mature and ready for seed dispersal.