A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Explicatio,-onis (s.f.III), abl. sg. explicatione: “an unfolding, uncoiling; (in discourse) an explanation, an expounding, exposition, analysis, q.v.; a laying out or planning (of figures on a plate, of buildings, etc.); an explaining of what is obscure; a description, account; a method or style of pictorial representation (Lewis & Short; Glare) [> L. explicans,-antis (part.B), q.v.)]; see annotatio,-onis (s.f.III); the caption of an illustration; see caption;

- [moss] quoad originem, radices sunt vel primordiales, quae a seminis in plantulam explicatione praesentes fuerunt, vel succedaneae, quas caulis parte sua inferiore diversis temporibus emisit (Bridel); as to [their] origin, the roots are either primordial, which were present from an unfolding of the seed into a small plant [i.e. as in an acrocarp], or sequential, which the stem sent out at different times from its lower part [i.e. as in a pleurocarp].

- Explicatio Nominum Scriptorum Rei Herbariae, quorum mentio fit in hoc opere (Tourn.), an explanation of the names of authors of botany, the mention of whom may be made in this work.

- [Phascum patens; moss] FLOS MASCVLVS pro more omnium cognitarum specierum huius generis, ex alis foliorum prodit f. 3. 6. mole in integritatis statu tam exili,ut explicationem respuat (Hedw.), the male flower in the manner of all the known species of this genus,issues from the axils of the leaves figure 3. 6. with the mass [i.e. the whole] in its entirety [i.e. undissected] is in so indistinct (= meager] a state as to deny representation [or analysis].

- Terminorum quorundam & vocum generaliorum Interpretatio & Explicatio brevis (Ray), an interpretation and short explanation of certain terms and of more general words.

Caption (Eng.noun), q.v., “(influenced in meaning by L. ‘caput’ head): the explanatory comment or designation accompanying a pictorial illustration usually as an underline or overline” (WIII).

- Explicatio Tab. III (Hedw.), caption [i.e. explanation] of plate [= tabulae, gen.sg.] III.

- Explicatio figurarum (Hedw.), explanation of the figures.

- Explicatio tabulae (Hedw.), explanation of the plate.

- inter manuscripta Hedwigiana nihil aderat, nisi icon, locus natalis et iconis explicatio. Secundum iconem ab hypno pulchello Dicksonii, sive Leskea pulchella Hedw. differt: trunco longiore, foliis non acuminatis (Schwaegr. in Hedw.), nothing useful existed among the Hedwigian manuscripts except an illustration, the native place and the explication [i.e. the caption] of the picture. [The species] differs, according to the illustration, from Hypnum pulchellum of Dickson, or Leskea pulchella Hedw. by the stem longer, the leaves not acuminate.