A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Pyxis,-idis (s.f.III), abl. sg. pyxide, nom. & acc. pl. pyxides, dat. & abl. pl. pyxidibus: a pyx; pyxis, a little box, casket, container used for drugs, etc.; “1. a capsule with circumscissile dehiscence, the upper portion acting as a lid; 2. (obsol.) the theca of a moss; 3. the same as Scyphus (Lindley)”(Jackson); a circumscissile capsule, the upper portion or top dehiscing as a lid, the basal portion may be referred to as the urna,-ae (s.f.I), q.v., and the upper portion as the operculum,-i (s.n.II); “pyxis, pyxidium, (obsol.) pyxidula, adj. pyxidiatus “the same as scyphus; also a capsule opening by a lid as in Hyoscyamus or Anagallis” (Lindley) [> L. pyxis,-idis s.f.III; > Gk. puxis (pyxis), a box, a small box, esp. for unguents, medicines, etc. originally of boxes made of boxwood, then of those of any kind of wood, and finally, also, of metallic boxes” (Lewis & Short); puxis,-idos (s.f.III), a box made of box-wood; ‘box’ generally = Lat. pyxis;” cf. Gk. puxos (pyxos) (s.f.II) “box, Buxus sempervirens; boxwood”(Liddell & Scott); see diplotegium, calyptra, cap, hat, helmet, lid, operculum; see capsule; see scyphus,-i (s.m.II), a cup, goblet.

Fruit with a dry dehiscent pericarp: “the capsule is a superior, one or more celled, many-seeded, dry, dehiscent fruit. The dehiscence may ... take place by valves, pores or transversely, or partially. “When the capsule dehisces transversely the fruit has received the distinctive name of Pyxis” (Bentley).

circumscissile (Eng.adj.), q.v., in capsular fruit, such as the capsule of mosses, opening or dehiscing by a complete transverse split cutting off the tip like a cap or lid.

Pyx, also pix (Eng.nouns): (eccl.) “the vessel, tabernacle, or container used to hold the reserved sacrament on the altar or Holy Table or to carry the Eucharist to the sick” (WIII).

Amphora,-ae (s.f.I), q.v.: “(obsol.) the lower half of a pyxis; as in Henbane” (Jackson).

See pyxid-, pyxido-; -pyxis,-idis (s.f.III): in Gk. comp.

pyxis,-idis (s.f.III): in Gk. and L. comps.: little box, casket, container, case;

     singular     plural
Nom.  pyxis      pyxides
Gen.  pyxidis    pyxidum
Dat.  Pyxidi     pyxidibus
Acc.  Pyxidem    pyxides
Abl.  pyxide     pyxidibus

   
       singular     plural
Nom.  Geopyxis    -pyxides     Geopyxis,-idis (s.f.III), a fungus.
Gen.  Geopyxidis  -pyxidum       [Geopyxidaceae]
Dat.  Geopyxidi   -pyxidibus
Acc.  Geopyxidem  -pyxides
Abl.  Geopyxide   -pyxidibus

[fungus] Myropyxis,-idis (s.f.III).

[zoology] Centropyxis,-idis (s.f.III), a genus of amoebae (Amoebozoa); C. aculeata.

[zoology] Cyclopyxis,-idis (s.f.III): an amoeboid organism with a central, invaginated, circular aperture.

[zoology] Pyxidicula,-ae (s.f.I): an amoeboid organism with a broad aperture (> L. dim. pyxis,-idis + L. dim. –ulus,-a,-um (adj.A).

Alaticaulia pyxis (Orchidaceae); Masdevallia pyxis (Orchidaceae): the epithets are nouns in apposition.

Althoffia tetrapyxis (Malvaceae), with four pyxides; the pyxides having four valves; Aptychus micropyxis.

In moss families: the epithet probably refers to the capsule: (Bryaceae, Sematophyllaceae, Pottiaceae): Barbula leptopyxis; Brachymenium melanopyxis; Brachythecium erythropyxis; Bryum calopyxis; Fissidens nanopyxis.

Although having a qualifier suffix, all –pyxis epithets should probably be declined as nouns in apposition: having (such a) pyxis, capsule, box, theca:

- codonopyxis, with a bell-shaped pyxis; cylindropyxis, with a cylindric pyxis; globipyxis, with a globular pyxis; lampropyxis, with a shining pyxis; leiopyxis, with a smooth (glabrous) pyxis; macropyxis, with a large pyxis; micropyxis, with a small pyxis; nematopyxis, with a thread-like pyxis; ; oedopyxis, with a swollen pyxis (e.g. as with a goiter); podopyxis, with a stalked pyxis; ptychopyxis, with a grooved pyxis; sphaeropyxis, with a spherical pyxis.